Back

Weekly Report - 12 October 2023 (WR-23-41)

PARAGUAY: Clan Rotela flexes its muscles

A criminal gang seized control of Paraguay’s principal prison, Tacumbú, on 10 October, taking the director, 21 prison guards, and some 20 visiting relatives of inmates hostage. President Santiago Peña claimed the following day that order had been restored at Tacumbú after the deployment of security forces. He insisted it was not “a crisis” but “a confrontation with organised crime”. But Peña is under pressure. Clan Rotela, the gang that rules the roost in Tacumbú, had demanded to speak to the justice minister, Ángel Barchini. A week earlier, Barchini had pointedly announced during a televised cabinet meeting that he had formulated a plan against Clan Rotela which would have a “cost in terms of human lives”, to allow the state to resume control of its prisons.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 449 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

Back

Articles in this issue