End of preview - This article contains approximately 794 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
Back
Tren de Aragua
A dystopian hotel?
Many media outlets have focused on sensationalist claims that TdA leaders led a life of blatant luxury in Tocorón. There have been claims that the prison has its own private residential homes, a nursery, a swimming pool, a baseball and a football pitch, horses, food stands, eateries, a night club, and mobile phone sales points. The available evidence suggests that these claims are largely true. One revealing account was made by Venezuelan journalist Ronna Rísquez who managed to gain access to the prison, posing as a visiting family relative of one of the prisoners. On approaching the compound, she said she had to cross three external National Guard checkpoints. At the last of them, she had to leave her identity card, crossing the boundary into the area controlled by the Tren.
- “Very, very dangerous people”
- The context: a country in a state of collapse
- Origins: Tocorón prison
- A dystopian hotel?
- The prison business model
- Death of the Tren?
- Life after death: international expansion
- The Ronald Ojeda story
- Donald Trump’s ‘invasion model’
- Unfair deportation: the Kilmar Abrego story
- Is there a connection between crime and migration?
- Conclusion: answering four key questions