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Tren de Aragua
The prison business model
The Casa Grande was part of a sophisticated and ruthlessly pursued business model. At its centre was the weekly payment to the cause that every prisoner must make. There are no official figures on prison occupancy rates. However, the prison was built with a capacity to hold 5,000 inmates, and there were reports of up to 10,000 being held there. This means that TdA was receiving an annual income of between US$3.9m and US$7.8m from its prison population, which went towards paying its operating costs. It also explains why gang leaders wanted to maximise the prison population (and sometimes refused to release those who were coming to the end of their sentences).
- “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