Four robbers with pistols refused to give up about 30 hostages, including a pregnant woman and children, today in a standoff with hundreds of heavily-armed police at a bank in central Venezuela.
"We are in real danger. They can kill us. Please help," read a placard placed at one of the branch's windows.
A woman captive, who received some food at the bank's door for those inside, screamed out that the hostage-takers would not give up after they seized people early on Monday during a botched robbery.
Negotiators said that after 24 hours under siege from security forces deployed across the street from the bank, the assailants rejected an offer to give themselves up in front of TV cameras with a guarantee no shots would be fired.
The hostages demanded an ambulance to drive off with their loot and a handful of captives, they said.
Hostages' relatives, who received text messages from inside pleading for a peaceful end, sang the national anthem and yelled for the police to grant the demand.
The siege in the OPEC nation highlighted the scourge of crime in a country with one of the world's worst rates for gun-related deaths.
With crime hurting his popularity, President Hugo Chavez has vowed to tackle the problem, warning his political allies that voters could back the opposition in elections this year if the government fails to make headway.