Mexico Jail Stormed to Free Hostages; 6 Dead

Police commandos stormed a Mexican prison for a second time Friday to end a two-day siege in which 14 hostages were held by inmates, and at least six people were killed, a state government spokesman said.

As many as eight others, including some of the hostages, may have died during a shoot-out between police and the inmates that ended the hostage situation but details were not immediately available early today, Nayarit state spokesman Francisco Flores said.

About six inmates at the Venustiano Carranza penitentiary had been holding 12 to 14 prison employees since Thursday afternoon.

Inmates, including some jailed on drug charges, attacked the prison’s administrative offices Thursday at the penitentiary after being denied Christmas pardons for good behavior, authorities said.

An earlier raid Friday was repelled by the prisoners. In that raid, the leader of one of the commando units from Mexico City was shot to death, Flores said.

The six prisoners who had sought appointments Thursday with the warden arrived at his office at the same time two well-dressed visitors posing as lawyers entered the prison, Flores said.

The two men posing as attorneys entered the prison without being searched, then took out guns, Flores said.

It is not clear who started the shooting that killed a security guard and an inmate, the brother of the apparent leader of the assault, he said. The warden, Samuel Alvarado, 31, was shot and bled to death from his leg wound, officials said.

Four other prisoners and prison workers were wounded in Thursday’s shoot-out, two seriously.

As dusk fell Friday, Mexico City’s Zorro and Escorpion commando teams sprayed tear gas and rushed the prison. “This provoked a very violent confrontation,” Flores said.

Those killed in the Friday raids included the head of the “Zorro” commando team, Flores said.

Three hours later, the commandos staged a second raid, this time freeing many of the hostages, he said.

Tepic, the capital of Nayarit state, is about 500 miles northwest of Mexico City.

“The mutineers demanded that the attorney general provide an armored car and high-powered firearms with the apparent intention of leaving the place. But this morning they said they did not want the vehicle,” Flores said.

Flores said about 200 soldiers, police and guards had surrounded the penitentiary.

Except for the few inmates holding hostages in the administrative offices, the rest of the prison’s 1,200 inmate population had remained under control, Flores said.