The leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, a feared criminal gang in Latin America which ran the Venezuelan prison of Tocoron (center-north) recaptured by the police on Wednesday, was able to escape, the authorities confirmed on Friday, who issued a wanted notice against him.

“Reward. Wanted”, we can read in the wanted notice posted on social networks by the Ministry of Justice against Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias Niño Guerrero (child warrior), the main leader of the Tren de Aragua who had makes Tocoron a sort of headquarters.

During the day, the NGO Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVV) denounced the flight abroad of the main leaders of the gang, assuring that they had “already negotiated (with the authorities) their exit from the complex and had left the country a week ago.

The prisoners’ rights organization does not specify which countries they went to but accuses the authorities of “opacity”, at a time when the other inmates of Tocoron, emptied, were distributed among different prisons.

More than 11,000 members of the security forces, supported by dozens of armored vehicles, invaded this prison on Wednesday. The operation left one dead (a soldier), according to the authorities who did not provide a report on the number of injured.

A large arsenal, including rocket launchers and grenades, had been seized.

Tocoron was entirely managed by the gang who extorted from the inmates but had also set up a swimming pool, a zoo, a nightclub, stores, and sports fields.

The Tren de Aragua, which reportedly numbers some 5,000 criminals, appeared in 2014, operating in “classic” mafia activities: kidnappings, robberies, drugs, prostitution, extortion. It has extended its influence to other activities, some legal, but also to gold panning and illegal mining.

Interior Minister Admiral Remigio Ceballos announced Thursday that authorities had discovered tunnels that allowed detainees to escape, without specifying how many of them had managed to escape. The ministry announced Friday that 80 detainees had been recaptured.

The minister indicated that four prison officials had been arrested, accused of complicity with the criminals.

“We would like to know more about how these officials managed to enter with rockets and weapons without the complicity of many other people,” emphasizes the OVV.

09/23/2023 17:07:12 –         Caracas (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP