Tren de Aragua

Tocorón prison’s central role in running the Tren’s criminal empire may – or may not – have come to an end on 23 September 2023. On that day up to 11,000 troops under the command of CICPC (the Scientific, Penal, and Criminalistic Corps) raided the prison, blowing up the bars of locked cells. Unlike a prison seizure in 2011, on this occasion there was no resistance from the inmates. None of the three principals or pranes were in their cells when the raids took place. Specialist website InSight Crime quoted sources who said that the Niño Guerrero had imposed a curfew for three days before the raid, taking out weapons, money, and people through a tunnel. A local prisoners’ rights lobby group, Una Ventana para la Libertad (A Window for Liberty), said the operation to take over the prison had been discussed beforehand with the authorities, allowing the TdA leadership to make its getaway.