President Nicolas Maduro, despite pursuing a failed ideology, presents a defiant image


As if the country's economic problems were not enough, 68 people lost their lives when fire swept through a police station in Venezuela last night. It was the last thing the beleaguered people would have desired considering the state of their nation.

The incident led to clashes between officers and families demanding information about detained relatives.



The blaze is believed to have started when rioting inmates set fire to mattresses in an attempted breakout.

Tarek William Saab, the attorney-general, was able to confirm that nearly all of the dead were prisoners, adding that two were women staying overnight at the station. The death toll is expected to rise.





Conditions have deteriorated in Venezuela’s overcrowded jails amid nationwide shortages of food, water and medicine. A lack of space has forced authorities to put long-term prisoners into holding cells like those in Valencia, where they are supposed to spend a maximum of 48 hours.