The standoff began when authorities, having uncovered an escape plan, announced that prisoners at La Planta would be moved to other prisons. Because most of the prisoners in La Planta are probably from the Caracas area, such a move would take them away from their familial networks and leave them without connections both inside and outside the prison. Inmates in Venezuelan prisons typically rely on their families to bring them basic goods, from food and water to the money they pay to the prison leaders, known as "pranes," who run illicit operations both inside and outside the prison.

Venezuelan Minister of Correctional Services Iris Varela said the assault was targeting a small group of prisoners, likely the pranes, in order to protect the general prison population. By moving the prisoners from La Planta to other prisons, Venezuelan authorities hope to break up the prison's organized crime rings and disrupt corrupt elements of the National Guard that do business with the pranes.

Details of the engagement are still emerging. Three gunshot injuries have been reported, and the National Guard has imposed a curfew and security cordon in the neighborhoods surrounding the prison. Authorities have reportedly removed prisoners' families and friends from the area, but that has not stopped them from interfering in the assault. There are reports that a policeman was injured by gunfire from the nearby neighborhood of El Parroquia, and that prisoners' families traveled in some 50 vehicles to the nearby Miraflores Palace to protest the assault on the prison.

According to other available details, National Guard snipers have set up on the Cota 95 highway near the prison and tanks are entering the area. At least one building near the prison is currently without power.

Authorities tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the standoff because they understand the situation's potential for widespread violence and destabilization. This is an especially bad time for President Hugo Chavez's administration, which is facing an election in October and has seen a general decline in the security situation in the capital.

The last major assault on a Venezuelan prison occurred in June 2011, when the National Guard seized the El Rodeo prison in response to a prisoner uprising. By the time the police secured El Rodeo in July, the standoff and the resulting deaths had spurred protests that — in conjunction with ongoing labor disputes — contributed to 2011 having a higher number of protests than any other year of Chavez's presidency. The assault on La Planta is likely to have similar implications. With a presidential election approaching in October, an escalation of this situation will be damaging to Chavez's re-election campaign, at a time when the administration is already weakened by the president's poor health.