A group of inmates were involved in a prison riot on 24 May 2019 in the police station cellblocks in Acarigua, Portuguesa state, Venezuela.

The riot allegedly began when inmate Wilfredo Ramos was killed following ten days of protests against the denial of visits by relatives.

[1] However, the prison of this uprising was actually the holding cells of the police headquarters[2] at Centro de Coordinación Policial José Antonio Páez (PoliPáez).

[5] Humberto Prado of the NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (English: Venezuelan Prison Observatory; OVP) told Reuters that for "several days" before the uprising, inmates at PoliPáez had been asking the ombudsman to assure them they wouldn't be transferred to out-of-state prisons where relatives could not visit them; the uprising took place during a relative visit.

Moro confirmed that there had been riots in PoliPáez for over a week, adding that it may stem from the guards often turning away family members trying to visit, a legal right, along with denying the inmates other requests, like construction materials to build a swimming pool.

[6] According to Reuters, the official story from Óscar Valero of the local government, describing an escape attempt where rival prison gangs killed each other then harmed the guards trying to intervene, has been questioned by human rights groups.

[17] Officers at PoliPáez took many inmates into custody for inciting the uprising, with photographs shared on the internet and in coverage by major newspapers like La Patilla showing these prisoners stripped naked and lying in rows on the ground outside.

[20] The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the violence in the police station, calling upon the State to "adopt immediate measures to guarantee the life and integrity of detainees", stressing the importance of investigating the events.

[21] Amnesty International director Erika Guevara-Rosas blamed the government of Nicolás Maduro as the responsible for the deaths because the inmates were under state custody.