O Venezuelan government invited journalists to a tour of the Tocorón Penitentiary Center, in the state of Aragua, last Saturday (23). This visit comes just days after security forces regained control of the prison after many years under gang control.
Tocorón prison, one of the largest in the country, was controlled directly by inmates, many of them members of the powerful gang El Tren de Aragua, in honor of the state where Tocorón is located, according to the Venezuelan Ministry of Information.
Last Wednesday (20), Venezuelan security forces carried out a special operation with more than 11 thousand soldiers to regain control of the prison. The Army and the National Guard participated in the operation.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos explained that the operation was “a total success”. He also announced that 80 high-ranking members of the criminal organization were detained by security forces after taking over the prison.
Ceballos denied media reports that the government negotiated with gang leaders before the operation. “We completely destroyed the leadership of the so-called ‘Aragua Train’. They are gone”, quoted the minister to CNN .
Journalists, including a team from CNN , saw where inmates have built a swimming pool and several restaurants within the prison walls in recent years. Authorities released images after the raid of weapons seized from inmates, including automatic rifles, machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Thousands of prisoners were transferred to other penitentiaries after the operation. However, family members of the inmates dispute these claims, stating that they have not spoken to their relatives since the morning the operation began.
“I haven’t heard anything since all this started on Wednesday,” Claribel Rojas, sister of an inmate at the Tocorón prison, told CNN on Saturday. “I came yesterday and today and no one says anything.”
While it is not uncommon for gangs to run prisons in Venezuela, the Tocorón Penitentiary was famous in the country and in recent years has become a symbol of the Venezuelan government’s inability to regain control from powerful gangs.
Trem Aragua is the most powerful criminal group in Venezuela and in recent years has expanded its operations to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina, according to the US State Department.
See also: Analysis: Brazil gets closer to Venezuela with energy purchases
Source: CNN Brasil
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