battles are raging between security forces and armed gangs within the Venezuelan capital Caracas. No official price has been given but local media reports say quite 10 people are killed since the fighting began on Wednesday. Hundreds of officers are deployed to seize weapons and rummage around for gang leaders, who are seeking to expand their territory. One local resident said the recent violence was “like a war”. Images shared on social media showed bullet castings littering the bottom within the Cota 905 neighborhood on Friday. One officer told the AFP agency that authorities were now up to the mark, but said: “there should be some snipers”. Some 800 security personnel were deployed to affected areas, where they conducted house-to-house searches. Interior Minister Carmen Meléndez said police had “advanced within the dismantling of the criminal structures that have settled in these territories with the intention of sowing terror”. She said the officers had freed citizens kidnapped by the gangs and would remain deployed “as long as necessary”. The Venezuelan government has offered rewards of up to $500,000 (£360,000) for information resulting in the detention of gang bosses. Local human rights groups immersed a de-escalation within the violence, expressing “deep concern for the lives and safety” of local residents. While the shooting appears to possess died down, dozens of civilians are fleeing their homes, scared of being hit by bullets. “We are experiencing trauma”, one Cota 905 resident told the Associated Press press agency. The operation marks the primary time in years that authorities have launched a serious offensive against the gangs, AFP reports. The government accuses the opposition, with the assistance of foreign powers, of orchestrating the violence to “destabilize” President Nicolás Maduro. But opposition media outlets said the govt was in charge. An op-ed published by newspaper El Universal said the powerful El Coqui gang’s firepower had “disproportionately grown while state security bodies that exist to confront them and reduce them, have seen themselves diminish through the years”. An editorial by El Nacional said the strength of the gang was “a result of [the government] having given these criminals every type of advantage”. Venezuela has been caught in a very downward spiral for years with growing political discontent further fuelled by hyperinflation, power cuts, and shortages of food and medicine.
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