Social club built by inmates at the Tocorón Prison with the main prison building in the background. Photo: Joris Van Gennip/File photo.
Some 50 officials from Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) are being interrogated by officers from the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) for their alleged links with the criminal gangs that operated in the Tocorón Penitentiary Center.
The 50 soldiers are detained while being investigated for their alleged involvement in the criminal organization that operated inside Tocorón Prison.
The group of soldiers was in charge of the internal custody of the penitentiary center on the day of the Cacique Guaicaipuro Liberation Operation. Some 11,000 law enforcement agents participated in the operation in an attempt to restructure the prison.
These 50 GNB officers presumably leaked to the leaders of the Aragua Train criminal gang that State security forces would carry out the operation inside the prison facility.
As part of the investigations carried out after the escape of the criminals from the Aragua Train, the Public Ministry (MP) has charged the director and deputy director of the Tocorón prison. They are Rigoberto Jesús Fernández Colina and Ezequiel Antonio Pérez Rivero, respectively.
The Public Ministry has also charged five officials from the Penitentiary Ministry who worked as guards at the Aragua state penitentiary center. The officials are Larry Peter Figueira Moreno, José Rafael Navarro Prieto, Ángel Alexander Talavera Barrios, Yovanni Alexander Camacho Pérez, and Johanny Antonio Morillo Esmetet.
President Maduro Says Corrupt Tocorón Prison Officials Helped Criminals Escape
After completing the first stage of the operation, the police officers began phase two. This phase consists of the search, pursuit, and capture of the members of the criminal gang operating in the Aragua state prison.
Currently, the authorities are still searching for the escaped prisoners from Tocorón, among them the top leaders of the Tren de Aragua: Héctor Guerrero Flores (aka Niño Guerrero) and Josué Santana (aka El Santanita). Interpol included them in its most wanted criminals database as requested by Venezuelan authorities.
After the operation on the Tocorón Prison, several escaped inmates have been recaptured or killed after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement agents.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigon with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
