Asuncion (AFP) – A police officer and nine inmates died in the midst of a military and police intervention in the Tacambú prison, the main prison in Paraguay, authorities reported this Monday, December 18. The country's president, Santiago Peña, described the operation as “historic and unprecedented.”
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An agent died this Monday, December 18, from a shot to the head in the Tacambú prison, in Asunción. Another officer was admitted to intensive care due to the impact of a projectile on the temple, said the head of the operation, Commissioner Nimio Cardozo.
In the operation, which aimed to transfer a drug trafficking boss who dominated the prison, at least 36 uniformed officers and 24 prisoners were also injured by gunshots, indicated the head of the national police, Commissioner Carlos Benítez.
“It is a partial balance. The operational work continues. Staff continue to inspect the darkest areas of the prison, which is 100% under our control.“Benítez said at a press conference.
“With firmness and determination we have carried out a historic and unprecedented operation in order to build a safer country for our families,” declared the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, who defended the carrying out of the surprise “Operation Veratio”, which ended with the capture and transfer to another prison of the Paraguayan drug trafficker Javier Rotela.
Today we said enough is enough.
Enough of privileges, enough of complicity and lack of control and more than anything we said enough to a penitentiary model that turned prisons into true schools of crime and crime. pic.twitter.com/1LY8TnVxMS
— Santiago Peña (@SantiPenap) December 18, 2023
A drug trafficker maintained control of part of the prison
Rotela was in a sector of the prison known as “La Jungla”, under his control for several years, and was immediately transferred to the Viñascué military prison, on the outskirts of the capital.
Another 700 prisoners, all bare-chested and handcuffed, were put into Army and Police buses to be momentarily distributed to different military units, Cardozo reported. The intention is to decongest the prison.
1,100 military personnel and 1,118 police officers participated in the operation. Automatic weapons and even three Pitbull dogs were seized.
“Rotela lived with his wife who is pregnant. He had all the comforts and managed a small supermarket with all kinds of merchandise. Before being arrested three police officers saved his life thanks to the bulletproof vest,” said Cardozo.
In the operation, 48 women who were secretly accompanying their partners were rescued, the police spokesperson added.
Rotela, head of the “Rotela Clan”, is accused of managing micro-trafficking in the urban centers of Paraguay.
According to criminologist Juan Martens, it has around 7,000 members under its command in various penitentiaries in the country and competes with the Brazilian PCC (First Capital Command) and the Red Command in the control of organized crime.
“These leaderships occur because the environment allows these clans to operate in the prison system,” the expert stressed to AFP.
The Tacumbú prison, located about 15 blocks from the center of Asunción, had several riots under the leadership of Rotela. In the last of them, last October, an inmate died. The jail housed almost 3,000 inmates, double its capacity.
Paraguay, with more than 6,000,000 inhabitants, has a prison population of more than 16,000 people.
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