52 prisoners have died in Monterrey, Mexico as a result of clashes between different drug cartels in the Topo Chico prison . Also 12 people are seriously injured after the attack which comes days before the visit of Pope Francis in another prison in Mexico's northern city .

The news has been confirmed by Jaime Rodriguez who is the governor of Nuevo León state, which encompasses Monterrey . The governor confirmed the death toll at 52 on Friday mornining, as a result of clashes between rival drug cartels. The governor disclosed there was no gunfire and that prisoners set fire to the food stores.

The clash was between the faction known as Zetas cartel and led by Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias "Z-27"and the Gulf cartel group led by Jorge Ivan Hernandez "El Credo".

The Zetas were formerly an enforcement wing of the Gulf cartel up until 2010, when the broke out from the group. The Zetas were founded by former forces soldiers and since the break up , North Eastern Mexico has witnessed untold violence and death.

Saldivar-Farias is not unknown in the crime circles as he is the suspected murderer of American David Hartley who was killed in 2010, while skiing on the Falcon Lake which bothers U.S and Mexico.

The footage from the riot in the prison showed flames on the roof of the prison and families of inmates quickly surrounded the prison inquiring for the well being of their family members. This is the latest in the series of riots in Mexico prisons which shows Mexico has not been able to control it's own correctional facility. A recent survey shows that,13 people were killed and 65 people injured in a prison riot in San Luis Potosí Central Mexico in 2013, also 44 inmates killed once again in another riot between Zetas and Gulf cartel in Nuevo León prison in 2012.

Mexico is experiencing problems in prison's control as a result of increase in prison inmates due to the recent crackdown on organised crime and drug cartels . Overcrowding has only added to the increasing problems in the Mexico prison's which ranges from corruption and intimidation to paying of inflated prices for special protection and proper food to being a marked present in roll cells.

Even prison staff are not left out as they allow "self-rule" in the prison . An example is the case of Zetas cartel which controls most prisons , keeping the facility clean, imposing discipline and forcing most men to attend primary and secondary lectures to improve themselves.

This brings to mind the case of Drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" who escape from a maximum prison through an underground tunnel last year July, although El Chapo was re-arrested in January 2016.

This riot is coming at a time that more than 200 murders have been committed in 2010 in the Ciudad Juarez prison in 2010 where the Pope is expected to visit and address certain issues like insecurity and violence in the coming days.

Source

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