MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – An attack on a jail within the Mexican border town of Juarez left 19 dead and allowed a cartel kingpin to flee together with two dozen other prisoners, authorities said Monday.
An armed group, traveling in armored vehicles, launched almost-simultaneous attacks on the prison and the municipal police station, Defense Minister Luis Crescencio Sandoval said in a news conference.
Authorities said the Sunday morning attack had coincided with preparations for Latest Yr’s Day visits. They initially said the death toll was not less than 14, but by Monday, Sandoval said, this had risen to 19: 10 guards, seven prisoners and two attackers.
The attack allowed 25 inmates, including Ernesto Alfredo Pinon de la Cruz, also often called “El Neto,” to flee. Pinon is a top gunman for the Juarez-based “Los Mexicles” cartel, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said on the news conference.
Federal authorities were called in to contain the unrest. They later found a “VIP zone” within the state-run prison with drugs and money, said Rodriguez, who slammed the Chihuahua state administration.
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“That is the state’s responsibility, because federal authorities cannot intervene in these places,” Rodriguez said.
She added that state authorities had not requested that any dangerous prisoners, corresponding to “El Neto,” be transferred from the overcrowded prison to a higher-security location.
State prosecutor Roberto Javier Duarte said in a separate news conference Monday that state authorities would “completely clean out the penitentiary system” in response to the attack and that those guilty of corruption could be prosecuted.
The incident Sunday resulted in considered one of the best death tolls from prison attacks in Mexico in recent times.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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