Our fixer Cheo is running back and forth to the gate of the prison while Joris and I are a little further on the street waiting in suspense on the hood of our car. In the street outside the prison, a daily market is arising, it is a coming and going of visitors and vendors at the gate of the most notorious prison in Venezuela.

Yesterday, when we visited the prison, not everything went as planned. It was not the first time we were visiting the Tocoron prison. While we were convinced everyone was properly bribed before entering the prison, all our equipment got confiscated by the National Guards who are guarding the outside of the prison. When we left the prison we did not get back our equipment. Later that evening, after some calls between our fixer and a number of prisoners, we were told that the boss of the prisoners had taken our stuff from the Guardia National and that we could get it back at the gate of the prison.

Tocoron, a prison for 750 inmates was built in 1982. Nowadays it holds 7500 inmates. Guards and government employees are not welcome in this prison run by inmates. The boss of it all is prisoner Hector Guerrero Flores aka Niño Guerrero (The Warrior Child). The ruthless leader has two faces. While he runs his prison and his criminal empire with an ironclad fist, he is otherwise known as a benefactor. He gets families out of poverty and gives wheelchairs and medicines to those who need it. Niño Guerrero not only runs Tocoron prison, his former home neighborhood with 28,000 inhabitants is completely under the control of Niño and his men as well. Many others tell us his powers even go way further into Venezuela.

Read the full article for free on my website: http://michelspekkers.nl/an-ordinary-day-in-a-bankrupt-venezuela/