Venezuelan government troops continue assault on riot-torn prison

Prisoners warn of 'massacre' inside El Rodeo prison as human rights activists claim they received text message pleas
El Rodeo prison
Streams of teargas fired by national guard soldiers fall over the El Rodeo II prison in Guatire, Venezuela. Photograph: Fernando Llano/AP

Thousands of heavily armed government troops have continued to lay siege to a riot-torn prison complex in Venezuela, amid warnings from prisoners of a "massacre" inside.

On the fourth day of a major government assault on the El Rodeo prison complex, relatives continued to surround the unit seeking news of their husbands, brothers and sons.

Human rights activists claimed they had received text messages from inmates inside the jail containing urgent pleas to the government for their lives to be spared.

The text messages described how the national guard had fired at inmates who had entered the prison's courtyard after waving white flags, and with hands above their heads in a clear sign of surrender.

In an interview with Venezuela's Globovisión television network, one prisoner who escaped El Rodeo on Monday claimed security forces were preparing to commit a massacre inside the jail.

"The guards want to carry out a massacre in El Rodeo," the prisoner, named as Grevis José Vargas Machado claimed. "They killed several [prisoners] when we were leaving [the prison].

"They want to finish off El Rodeo 2. They want a massacre. They want to kill everyone and everything."

So far the government has only confirmed three deaths during the four-day operation.

But one inmate, who spoke to Associated Press by mobile phone, claimed there had been 17 deaths. Other witnesses outside the jail on Monday suggested the true figure could be even higher.

Venezuela's interior minister, Tarek El Aissami, admitted that it was impossible to establish an accurate death toll while his troops were still fighting to bring the unit under control.

He blamed the clashes on small groups of "violent mafias" operating within the jail complex.

The recent violence at El Rodeo began on 12 June, when some 22 people were killed as rival gangs clashed.

Since midnight on Friday thousands of Venezuelan troops have been engaged in an intense battle intended to reclaim control of the complex.

After almost 10 hours of intense gunfights, El Rodeo 1 was brought back under government control. The national guard said it had seized goods including seven automatic FAL rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, eight hand grenades, 20 other guns, bullets, 45kg of cocaine, 12kg of marijuana and 100 mobile phones.

The complex's second wing, El Rodeo 2, remains out of control. Throughout Monday sporadic rounds of gunfire could be heard coming from inside the unit.

One local said he had been woken up at 3am on Saturday by the sound of three grenade explosions.

"I get strip-searched every time I visit my brother in jail, so can you explain to me how these weapons make it inside if it is not at the hands of corrupt guards?" questioned one man, who was standing outside the prison complex.

Of the 3,600 inmates that were inside El Rodeo 1 when violence broke out last Sunday, 2,500 have so far been transferred to four other jails throughout the country. One inmate texted his wife claiming that if they were transferred out of El Rodeo they would be chopped into pieces at the other jails by rival gangs.

Uribana, the destination for around 500 prisoners, was the scenario of violent clashes that left dozens dead last year. Uribana is also home to so-called "Coliseums" – staged fights where inmates can solve their internal disputes in knife fights while being cheered on by fellow inmates.

After three days without electricity or food, the text messages coming out of El Rodeo 2 have become less frequent. One of the last to arrive painted a chilling picture of conditions inside. "We saw what they did to El Rodeo 1 and we will not surrender."