29 Killed in Clashes at Venezuelan Detention Center

NGOs say killings linked to inner fighting between government-backed gangs, police

Relatives of prisoners killed during clashes at a police detention center in the town of Acarigua, in the Venezuelan state of Portuguesa, wait outside a hospital's morgue to be handed the bodies of their loved ones, on May 25, 2019. Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images

BOGOTA, Colombia—Twenty-nine inmates were killed and 19 policemen were injured May 24 at a police detention site in the state of Portuguesa, Venezuela, in an armed conflict attributed to gangs that operate with government support.

The region’s security secretary, Oscar Valero, said the violence was the result of inter-gang conflict as police tried to control a “mass escape attempt.”