BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina has replaced its prisons chief and offered a reward of 500,000 pesos (about $89,000) for help capturing 11 dangerous inmates who tunneled out of a maximum-security prison.
Thirteen in all escaped from the federal prison in suburban Buenos Aires on Tuesday. Two were quickly caught but the rest remain at large. Prison system director Victor Hortel has resigned and 19 others put on leave pending an investigation.
Hortel says the escapees dug a tunnel through solid concrete and then cut through four rows of fencing while guards were elsewhere or looked away.
Interior Minister Julio Alak has named former prisons chief Alejandro Marambio to replace Hortel, prompting a new wave of complaints. Human rights activists said Wednesday that inmates were tortured more frequently under Marambio's watch.
