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After two days of heavy gunfire in eastern Caracas, law enforcement agents entered the ‘Cota 905’ area.
Venezuelan security forces have stormed several areas of the capital, Caracas, in an attempt to end days of deadly fighting with armed gangs.
No official death toll has been released, but local media say a dozen people, including several citizens, have lost their lives since clashes between gangsters and police in the eastern suburbs of Caracas on Tuesday.
After two days of heavy gunfire, law enforcement agents managed to break into the “Cota 905” hut on Friday morning.
“We control the area but there may still be some snipers,” an official told AFP news agency.
The Cota 905 district is the main site of influence for the so-called Koki gang, which has been confronted several times this year by law enforcement agents with guns.
Although Koki’s leaders have so far avoided a police siege, the government of President Nicolas Maduro confirmed on Friday that the disbandment of this criminal organization is underway.
On Thursday, authorities issued search warrants and offered $ 500,000 in prizes to the leaders of the gangs behind the deadly clashes, but on the run.
‘Traumatic’
In parts controlled by the gang, the ground was littered with bullet casings on Friday, evidence of thousands of shootings in two days, according to social media images.
“I will go to El Valle [area in southwestern Caracas, where a relative lives], because my children are afraid of being there [in Cota 905]; they were crying so I don’t want to keep them at home, ”he told The Associated Press news agency Marlen, a neighbor of Cota 905, who did not put his last name.
Enrique Alvarez, another neighbor of Cota 905, said, “We’ve been living a trauma there with that person since the day before. That’s all I can say, a trauma. One is not used to that.”
Interior Minister Carmen Melendez tweeted that the police have proceeded to dismantle the criminal structures established in those territories “with the intention of sowing panic”.
The government has blamed the violence on an alleged plot by the opposition to “destabilize” Maduro.
“The enemies of the homeland also intend to anxiety through the financing of criminal groups, we will not agree,” Maduro wrote on Twitter. “We are acting by force, adhering to the laws.”
About 800 security personnel were deployed as part of the operation, searching pedestrians and houses, and hijacked cars, motorcycles and barrels of diesel thought to be gang members.
In June, similar incidents killed at least three people, including a nurse who was the victim of a shredded bullet.
In 2020, Venezuela recorded 12,000 violent deaths, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory. It has a rate of 45.6 per 100,000 population, seven times higher than the global average.
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