1998 Cúa hostage crisis

On April 5, 1998, an 18-year-old man named Héctor Duarte Bahamonte attempted to rob a bakery at gunpoint in Cúa, Venezuela, a town roughly 50 km south of the capital, Caracas. Police intervened and shot Duarte in the arm, which prompted him to flee and take hostages in a nearby residential building. He entered an apartment and took 44-year-old Nancy López and her family hostage on the ninth floor of the block. During the incident, Duarte shot two of the hostages, including a 9-year-old boy, before he emerged from the building with López as his primary hostage.

Once outside, Duarte held his revolver to López's temple and demanded a vehicle to facilitate his escape to Caracas, threatening to kill her if his demands were not met. Police cordoned off the surrounding neighborhood, and police chief Ivan Simonovis took command of the rescue operation. Over the course of roughly seven hours, police and a police psychologist attempted to negotiate with Duarte, including allowing him to speak with his mother by phone, but he repeatedly rejected offers to surrender peacefully and threatened to kill López if police killed him. Throughout the ordeal, López reportedly remained largely calm despite the threat to her life.

The standoff ended when a police marksman, positioned near a police van used by the negotiator, fired a single shot that killed Duarte. López broke free with only minor injuries and was reported to be in shock but otherwise unharmed. Duarte was taken to an ambulance but was declared dead at the scene. The two other hostages who had been shot earlier survived after being taken to a hospital, and all surviving victims were reported to be recovering safely.

The following day, López spoke to reporters about the experience, describing feeling "born again" and stating that she had asked God to forgive Duarte, saying she did not understand why such events happen but wished for him to rest in peace.

News crews filmed the end of the standoff, and the footage was later featured in television broadcasts and crime documentaries, including the films Banned! In America and Banned from Television, both of which misreported the location of the incident. In June 2017, the footage resurfaced and went viral in India after being falsely circulated on social media as video of a police sniper killing an ISIS-affiliated terrorist in Spain; fact-checking outlets subsequently confirmed the footage was from the 1998 incident in Venezuela.