Clashes as Venezuelan prisoners protest over alleged mistreatment

In one video, a man can be seen showing wounds on his torso and his arm, with another man shouting "they're shooting at us".Others can be heard joining into chants of "we want justice".In another recording shared by OVP, a woman wearing dark glasses and a face mask addresses Rodríguez directly and demands that the minister of prisons and Injuba's director resign. She insists that their protest is peaceful before stating their demands, which include medicine for prisoners who have tuberculosis.OVP has long drawn attention to the poor conditions in Venezuelan jails, with the organisation warning that many do not meet the "minimum standards" which should be guaranteed by law. Since the United States seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military operation in the capital, Caracas, on 3 January, US pressure has led to the release of hundreds of political prisoners. However, more than 400 are still behind bars, according to pressure group Foro Penal.While Injuba is not one of the prisons where most political prisoners are usually kept, Venezuela's Committee for the Freedom of political prisoners expressed its solidarity with the inmates there, alleging that "punishment, hunger, solitary confinement, torture and inhumane conditions" were being used to control and subdue prisoners and "formed part of prison policy".