Guatemala: Seven Inmates Were Beheaded in a Prison Riot

Guatemala's National Civil Police (PNC) reported the deaths of at least 14 inmates, seven of whom were beheaded in a prison riot on Wednesday. 

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The massacre took place around 16.00 local time at the Cantel Rehabilitation Farm in the Quetzaltenango Department.

The prison's capacity was over 200 percent overloaded. There were 2,252 inmates at the moment of the incidents. 

According to the PCN, the murder of a prisoner's wife may have triggered the gang clashes, which led to a generalized riot. 

The meme reads, "At this time, the bodies of the seven inmates murdered inside the Cantel Rehabilitation Farm, Quetzaltenango, are removed."

Members of the "Mara Salvatrucha" and "Barrio 18" gangs are serving sentences in this prison. So far, there has been no information about the gangs to which those involved in the confrontation belonged.

The agitators took hostage the prison's Deputy Director Luis Oswaldo Rivera who was later released. 

Guatemala's  Penitentiary System has 21 prisons where 25,122 inmates serve sentences or pretrial detentions. Overcrowding in these prisons exceeds their capacity by over 370 percent.