The penal leadership system in Venezuelan prisons, better known as “pranatoRefuses to die despite the government operations that hit him hard. According to the Last report From the prison observatory (Obseratorio de Prisiones – OVP), the criminals who began to dominate the police holding cells two years ago consolidated their power, while the managers of dismantled prisons remain free.
At the end of 2023, the administration of President Nicolás Maduro launched a series of operations “control“Seven prisons which, at that time, were actually managed by criminal leaders, starting with Tocorón, the bastion of the now traditional gang Tren of Aragua. The very publicized operations have entered the prisons, have destroyed many of their facilities and moved prisoners in other institutions.
The government presented operations as a major In Pranato to obtain votes before the presidential elections in 2024, but the reality was different: there was no very publicized arrest, many criminal leaders, or pranksescaped without resistance, and others have even managed to withdraw their personal effects from the installation.
See also: Tren de Aragua: Facting fiction
Several criminal leaders have moved and have continued their criminal activities in Venezuela and other countries in the region. Among them, the former senior senior man of Aragua, Héctor Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño GuerreroWho commanded Tocorón prison for years. After the establishment was resumed, he asked for refuge In the state of Bolívar, in the mining area of Las Claritas, with his ally Yohan Jose Romero, alias “Johan Petrica”, one of the founders of Tren de Aragua.
An analysis of insightful crime
Although the Venezuelan government has mostly dismantled Pranato in the country's prisons, the criminal structure was reproduced by civil servants and recreated in the police cells, where the control is lacking and the complicity is endemic.
Far from eradicating the pranato, security officials in the prisoner of Venezuela tolerate it and even advantage of its existence. This criminal system has become an informal revenue source for them, increasing their low wages. After the operations carried out at the end of 2023 and at the beginning of 2024 in several Venezuelan prisons, most of the criminal leaders who led the Pranato fled and their system was co -opted by the police and the military leaders. An in -depth knowledge of prisons told Insight Crime that prisoners now paid officials for benefits such as smuggling drugs, phones and packages in the facilities.
Meanwhile, in the police holding cells, the pranato system managed by prosperous criminals. There, prisoners pay the fees known as “The causa“To the Pranes leading these establishments – by paying more in exchange for advantages – with accomplice officials receiving a reduction. Some families even finance the transfers of prisoners to these centers, which are considered to be “safer” or offer greater privileges, according to the OVP.
See also: Despite interventions, Venezuela's prison gangs thrive
“The Pranato system has been able to consolidate itself in the police that hold cells because criminal leaders can act with more freedom, because they are less examined than those of prisons,” said Humberto Prado, director of the OVP, to understand crime.
Featured image: security agents parked outside the Tocorón prison in Aragua, Venezuela, following an operation against prison gangs in October 2023. Credit: BBC Mundo.
