75 Prisoners Escape From Paraguayan Penitentiary

At least 75 prisoners escaped from the Pedro Juan Caballero penitentiary in northern Paraguay on Sunday, January 21. The fugitives are members of a powerful Brazilian cartel, the First Capital Command (PCC), and escaped via a tunnel connecting their prison cells to the outside world. The PCC cartel, which has tens of thousands of members, dominates the cocaine industry in São Paulo.

The Paraguayan justice minister, Cecilia Pérez, labeled the incident “extremely serious and unprecedented. A matter of national security that must be addressed.”

As stated by the New York Times, the prison they escaped from is near the Brazilian border, so “by now they’ve probably crossed over to the other side,” Pérez said.

She also reminded the country and the world that the breakout did not come as a surprise. In fact, in December, the Ministry of Justice had alerted the Paraguayan prosecution, the national police, and the public that it had acquired intelligence that pointed towards a prison break plan to rescue the leaders of the PCC. The plot focused on paying security guards a sum of approximately $80,000 USD to facilitate the escape.

Despite the country’s attempts to increase security, Paraguayan prisons have a history of being understaffed and underpaid, making them prone to corruption.

In fact, after the cartel members had snuck out at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, Pérez stated that it was clear that corrections officials had made the prisoners’ departure possible. In fact, at least five prison guards were suspended and are under investigation.

“We are certain that there was a scandalous conspiracy with security guards,” Pérez said. “They had been working on this for several days.”