The Una Ventrana a la Libertad, a NGO that defends the rights of prisoners, said that 23 prisoners were killed inside a jail in Acarigua and added that 13 police officers attained injuries from the clash.

The riot broke out when the FAES, a special police force unit, were trying to rescue a visitor who was being held as a hostage by the prisoners inside the police station prison in Acarigua.

Carlos Nieto, the director of the NGO, said, “This morning (authorities) sent the FAES and there was a clash. The detainees had weapons, they shot at the police. Apparently, they also exploded two grenades.”

Carlos added, “We can confirm that there are 23 dead detainees and 14 wounded police.”

The prison ministry of Valenzuela is yet to release a statement about the incident, they said that prisons of police stations are not under their control.

In March last year, 68 prisoners were killed in a fire inside a police prison and in August 2017, 37 people were killed after a riot broke out inside a prison in southern Venezuela.

Venezuela has seen a number of prison riots in the last few years.