Police in South America are searching for the leader of a Venezuelan gang who escaped from the luxurious prison that he dominated before A short time from the prison raid.

Edited by |Alexander Yaxina

South America  section -  CJ journalist

tucuron- September, 26,2023

When 11 thousand soldiers and policemen raided the prison" tucuron " run by inmates in Venezuela on Wednesday, they did not find Hector Guerrero Flores is nowhere in prison.

Under the rule of Guerrero Flores, the prison "tucuron" became more like a luxury resort.

The prison has a small zoo, a nightclub and a swimming pool.

The 39-year-old Venezuelan man has spent more than a decade entering and exiting the "tucuron" prison.

And in 2012, the leader of the transnational crime gang "Tren de Aragua" managed to escape from prison by Bribery of guards.

After he was arrested in 2013, he was returned to the prison itself, but it seems that his influence inside the prison-and on those to whom he was entrusted

The task of guarding him - has increased.

He not only turned the prison "tokoron" into the main control center of his criminal gang, but also supplied the prison, under

His rule, with all the equipment that made it look like a luxury hotel.

The prisoners ' families moved into the compound. The inmates had access to a makeshift Bank and a betting shop

A restaurant and a baseball field, while their children can enjoy bird watching at the zoo.

It is said that Guerrero Flores could enter and exit at will. The Venezuelan writer Rona risquez, who wrote

A book about the "Tren de Aragua" gang, how the police met him by chance at a party on a yacht in 2016.

According to risquez, the prisoner calmly showed the police officers a certificate of safe conduct issued by the Venezuelan Penitentiary Service

They allow him to move freely across the country.

Humberto Prado, director of the NGO Venezuelan prison Observatory, said Guerrero Flores had lived "a lifetime

The Kings" are inside the prison and he was probably coming back to it because of the security it provides.

He added: "he had a whole floor alone, with all the luxuries ... Such as double beds, plasma screens and systems

Auditory. He even had his own guard and no one could enter the floor without his permission."

According to Prado and others familiar with prison conditions from the inside, Guerrero Flores had no opponents inside the prison،

He was thus able to securely establish control over his ever-expanding criminal network.

Under his leadership, the "train de Aragua" gang expanded to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile and diversified its activities

From extortion of migrants to sex trafficking, contract assassination and kidnapping.

The gang's power and influence reached such an extent that Chilean President Gabriel boric directly referred to it, saying "We will hunt them down

We imprison them and, in cases of necessity, expel them".

It is believed that it was the pressure from the heads of Latin American states that led to the launch of the massive security operation in the prison "tucuron"

Last week by the Venezuelan authorities.

Officials said that 11 thousand soldiers and policemen were deployed to retake control of the prison from the hands of inmates.

During the raid, Guerrero Flores ' absence was initially noted, but Venezuelan officials did not announce his escape in Then.

Nothing was announced until Saturday, three days after the security operation, when the Venezuelan Interior Minister offered

A reward for those who provide information leading to the arrest of Guerrero Flores.

Despite the escape of the most powerful inmate in the prison, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the raid was carried out "with precision".

But he acknowledged that "some inmates fled because of the corruption of officials, who alerted prisoners to the impending security operation".

The president said those responsible for the escape would be "severely punished".

Police in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Venezuela are looking for Hector Guerrero Flores.