Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ciudad Victoria (Agenzia Fides) - "What happens in Cadereyta prison is just the tip of the 'iceberg', reports a newspaper in Nuevo Leon, referring to the two-day uprising in a Mexican prison, which caused two deaths and thirteen were seriously injured. The detainees, the day before yesterday and yesterday, set fire to mattresses in the cells and the prison pharmacy was looted. "A symptom that things are even more serious than the government wants to acknowledge" reads the note sent to Fides after the official statements of the government spokesman, according to whom it was just a protest. Later the government admitted that it was a revolt.
Just three days ago, in the neighboring state, His Exc. Mgr. Antonio González Sánchez, Bishop of Ciudad Victoria, not too far from the scene of the incident, told the press that "Mexico urgently needs a prison reform" and had asked the Federal Government to reform the system because it has deteriorated. "Prisons do not function as they should - said Mgr. Gonzalez -. Unfortunately, there is much talk of security strategies, to create other institutions, but I believe that citizens want to see tangible results".
A few days ago 29 prisoners fled the prison in Ciudad Victoria, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, through an underground tunnel dug under the prison system boundary wall. The strong reaction by prison guards sparked a riot and unrest, during which four inmates were stabbed. Three of them died and another was injured. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 29/03/2017)
