The Government of Venezuela announced that the Tocorón prisonone of the most violent in the country and epicenter of action of the criminal gang known as the Aragua Train, will be evicted, after an operation in which 11,000 uniformed police and military personnel participated.
(Also read: 11,000 agents are deployed to ‘dismantle’ the Aragua Train in Venezuela)
The operation was called “Operation Liberation Cacique Guaicaipuro” and its objective, according to the authorities, was “to put an end to organized crime gangs and other criminal networks that operated” from Tocorón.
The center “will undergo a restructuring process and will be completely vacated,” the government said in a statement.
During the operation, “a conspiracy and crime center was dismantled, used by an “international criminal network against the Venezuelan population”.
(Also read: Swimming pools and nightclubs, this is the Venezuelan prison that the Government wants to control)
Tocorón was the prison where the criminal organization “Tren de Aragua” was formed. spread throughout Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, where 21 members of the group were detained two months ago.
This group was born with blackmailing inmates as its first business and then designed a hierarchical structure around the leaders in the penitentiary center, which it replicated outside.
In another document released by the social network X, the Government reported that the operation was a success and that the second phase had begun.
#TocoronLiberation Photos of the takeover of the Tocoron prison (Aragua) carried out at dawn this Wednesday and directed by the Minister of the Interior Remigio Ceballos. The eviction of the prison began with the presence of prosecutors from the Public Ministry pic.twitter.com/4T0WNZ3ZfN
— Eligio Rojas (@ELESPINITO) September 20, 2023
This second phase, according to the authorities, corresponds to the search, pursuit and capture process, but they did not specify what it refers to.
At the moment there are no further details of the operation.
The fate of alias Niño Guerrero and his henchmen, leaders of the Aragua Train, is a matter of importance, not only in Venezuela, but in several Latin American countries where this criminal mega-gang is wreaking havoc.
— luis izquiel (@luisizquiel) September 20, 2023
At the moment nothing has been said about El Niño Guerrero, a criminal leader who had been speculated about his escape. Nor have any comments been issued about “El Gocho Ever”, second in command after Guerrero.
Government assures that it stopped massive escape
The Government assured that it prevented a “massive escape” from the prison, thanks to the police and military intervention in this prison.
“We detected some tunnels. We have prevented a massive escape and we have controlled all those deprived of liberty and we have also captured some people with weapons,” said the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Remigio Ceballos, in his first statement on the procedure, offered to the state channel VTV.
He assured that the detention center has been “completely liberated” and that, in the first searches, the security forces have discovered “a large number of inadequate spaces” in the prison, where the transnational criminal organization “Tren de Aragua” was formed. , extended by Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.
ANA MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ BRAZÓN
TIME CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
With information from Efe
#Government #Venezuela #announces #eviction #prison #controlled #Tren #Aragua #gang