Both the FBI and state police were called to the scene Monday in St. Martinville

December 13, 1999
Web posted at: 8:56 PM EST (0156 GMT)

ST. MARTINVILLE, Louisiana (CNN) -- Five Cuban prisoners were holding a Louisiana jail warden and three correctional officers hostage early Tuesday after an uprising that began when at least one inmate pulled a homemade knife on a guard.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the disturbance, which began Monday evening.

One hostage was released after about six hours: FBI and state hostage negotiators were holding talks with the five Cuban nationals to try to get the others released.

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US/Cuba relations

"We're trying to work out the situation," said Capt. Audrey Thibodeaux, a spokeswoman for the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Department.

The five Cuban nationals were being held there on behalf of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Thibodeaux said. She did not know why the five were detained.

"They're detainees and we house them," she said.

Thibodeaux said the hostages were taken in an "uprising" that began around 4 p.m. Monday, when the five Cuban nationals left a rooftop exercise area.

A man claiming to be a hostage-taker called CNN's Miami bureau, saying that the hostages were being held in three areas -- the warden's office, a control room and another room, which he did not identify.

A St. Martinville police officer secures the area around the jail Monday night

Asked why the hostages were taken, he said, "It was repression. It was imprisonment for nothing. We have no choice.

"We want the news to go around the whole world," the caller said. "We want the government to know what is happening."

He would not say how the hostages were taken, but would only say, "We have them, we have them." Asked what their demands were, the man -- who would not disclose his name -- said, "We want to get out of this country."

The jail houses 160 inmates in a two-story building in downtown St. Martinville, about 75 miles west of New Orleans. The sheriff's office is located on the first floor.

Thibodeaux said the incident was confined to inside the facility. She said officials were committed to "resolving the issue without injury ... in as peaceful way as we can."