The intervention in yet another Venezuelan prison under criminal leaders’ control highlights the ongoing failure of President Nicolás Maduro’s regime to eliminate the country’s prison gangs despite a year of targeted operations.
On November 5, Venezuela’s Ministry of Penitentiary Services, supported by various security agencies, entered the El Dorado Penitentiary Complex in Bolívar state to dismantle the criminal networks – often termed pranatos in Venezuela – operating in the facility.
The operation reportedly uncovered 17 prison leaders, which are known as pranes, along with several members of the Tren del Llano and Tren de Aragua gangs, operating from behind bars. Authorities also discovered drugs, firearms, hundreds of cell phones, and satellite internet antennas.
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“We are going to bring order and regularity to the entire penitentiary system. It’s a major task under the 7T Plan, a new superior level of management that will ensure maximum security and the elimination of crimes within,” Maduro said during his weekly podcast on November 6, referring to his plan to “modernize” the economy and achieve peace and security by the end of the decade.
InSight Crime Analysis
The recent raids in Venezuela’s prisons, among the world’s most brutal, demonstrate the government has yet to eliminate criminal control of the penitentiary system.
Since 2013, prisons have operated under the so-called penitentiary regime, a model designed to tackle the pranato, criminal organizations that have long wielded power and conducted illicit activities from behind bars—with tacit state approval.
After limited impact and continued criminal dominance, the government launched Operation Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro, intervening in seven prisons under criminal control in 2023, including Tocorón—the stronghold of the Tren de Aragua. By late 2023, Maduro proclaimed the “pranato” era was over.
However, this claim proved unfounded. The takeover of Tocorón, for example—the first of the seven interventions—yielded no significant arrests, with only officials from the Ministry of Penitentiary Services detained. And over a year later, the whereabouts of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero,” Tren de Aragua’s primary leader, remain unknown. Sources have told InSight Crime he may have negotiated an escape with the government days before the prison raid. This same pattern has repeated across other prisons.
While Maduro’s government has conducted limited operations targeting corrupt prison directors and detained 21 officials since the crackdown began, these efforts have failed to bring meaningful reform to the prison system. There has been no investigation into the penitentiary authorities, which, for decades, enabled criminal groups to flourish behind bars.
Severe overcrowding, poor prison conditions, low wages for officers, and a culture of impunity drive both inmates and staff to seek alternative sources of income, fueling illicit activities within the prisons.
Although El Dorado prison was not part of last year’s interventions, its criminal infiltration is hardly surprising, given the strong presence of criminal organizations in the area. Located in Sifontes municipality within the Orinoco Mining Arc, the prison sits in a region where illegal mining operations are largely controlled by criminal groups.
SEE ALSO: Is the ‘Pran’ System in Venezuela’s Prisons Finished?
At least three criminal organizations are active in the municipality: the Negro Fabio gang operates in El Dorado; the R Organization (Organización R – OR) is based in Tumeremo; and the Las Claritas Syndicate—affiliated with the Tren de Aragua.
While it’s plausible that the Tren de Aragua has some presence within the prison due to its ties to Las Claritas, no evidence supports this beyond official claims. Furthermore, the El Dorado complex lacks the operational infrastructure of the much larger Tocorón prison, which enabled the group to use it as a command center.
Similarly, the presence of the Tren del Llano in the prison is unlikely, as this group—which opposes Maduro—has historically concentrated its activities in the states of central Guárico and western Apure, over 500 kilometers away from Sifontes.
Featured Image: Julio Garcia Zerpa, minister of the Popular Power for Penitentiary Services, during the operation at the El Dorado Penitentiary Complex on November 5. Credit: Julio Garcia Zerpa’s social media