Relatives react to the evacuation of inmates from El Rodeo jail The Venezuelan authorities have transferred 2,500 prisoners from a jail near Caracas as they seek to reassert control there.
On Friday, thousands of troops took control of three-quarters of El Rodeo jail in Guatire, after a riot between rival gangs of inmates a week ago.
But a stand-off continues elsewhere in the jail, after attempts to negotiate with a group of armed inmates failed.
The interior minister said some 50 prisoners were refusing to disarm.
In the meantime, the authorities have sought to deal with the prisoners from the part of El Rodeo they already control.
In the early morning of Sunday, they transferred more than two-thirds of those inmates by bus to a number of other prisons in the country.
They plan to move the remaining 1,000 inmates later on Sunday.
They say the measure is a temporary one, designed to protect the fundamental rights of the prisoners.
But many of the inmates’ relatives remain highly anxious about the situation.
Hundreds of relatives have again gathered outside the jail, where they have clashed with security forces in recent days.
Two members of the security forces and at least one prisoner were killed in clashes inside the jail when the security operation started on Friday.
And more than 20 inmates were killed in the original rioting last Sunday.
Venezuelan prisons are notoriously overcrowded and there have been a series of jail riots since the beginning of the year.
Attempts to end the stand-off inside part of El Rodeo have so far failed.
“We’ll last out for as long as it takes”
Tareck El Aissimi Venezuelan interior minister
On Saturday, Interior Minister Tareck el-Aissimi said the leaders of a group of rebel inmates – whom he called “hostile” and “negative” – had been using their weapons to exert control over more than 1,000 fellow inmates in that area of the jail.
Mr Aissami told the state television channel, VTV, that the leaders were demanding that government troops – who number some 4,000 – pull out of the jail.
And he said the men would not permit a search of the part of the prison they controlled.
The authorities have been trying to implement a crackdown on guns within the jail, and have so far confiscated a number of firearms and a quantity of drugs.
But Mr Aissami said he was prepared to play a waiting game.
“We’ll last out for as long as it takes,” he said.
“Time is not on their side. We’re on our guard, waiting for them to hand over their weapons.”
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