⛓ New Prisons, Old Problems

New prisons in Ecuador and Argentina, Mexico seeks extradition of Sinaloa cartel former leader and more.

Dec 21, 2024

What did Argentina and Ecuador have in common this week? The governments of both countries announced new security measures, and both have to do with prisons - the inauguration of one and the construction of another.

The news should come as no surprise. Prisons are central to Daniel Noboa and Javier Milei's crime-fighting strategies. They are not the only ones. In fact, the prison population rate is rising across the world.

In a report published this week, the Association for the Prevention of Torture says women represent the fastest growing sector within the prison population. They say this is due to governments adopting more punitive approaches to non-violent offences, including drug use and micro-trafficking. In Bolivia, more than 40% of women in prison were prosecuted for drug-related offences. In Paraguay the number rises to 50%, in Brazil to 65% and in the province of Salta in Argentina to 75%.

The report also highlights that there is a socioeconomic factor at play. Most women in prison come from marginalized backgrounds. In Brazil and Argentina, for example, nearly half did not have the opportunity to finish primary school.

But, they say, there is another way, reflected in the alternatives to incarceration programmes being promoted in countries such as Costa Rica and Colombia, with positive results.

CAPSULES

1.🇲🇽 Extraditions. The Mexican government requested the United States to extradite Dámaso López Serrano, who was a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel and is suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Javier Valdez in the city of Culiacán in 2017. López Serrano was arrested in Virginia on 13 December on charges of trafficking fentanyl, the potent drug that has caused thousands of deaths in the country. He was free after being granted parole in 2022. López Serrano, who is the son of Damaso López Nuñez, who used to be a top Sinaloa cartel commander, had surrendered to police in 2017 to face drug trafficking charges in exchange for a reduced sentence. Who did return to Mexico on Monday is Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, 57, who was one of the leaders of the Gulf cartel and creator of Los Zetas, one of the most violent organizations in the world, AP reported. Cárdenas Guillén, who served 14 of the 25 years he was sentenced to in the United States on drug trafficking charges, changed criminal dynamics forever, reported Pablo Ferri for El Pais.

2.🇨🇱 Los Gallegos. Authorities in Chile on Monday formalized an investigation against two members of Los Gallegos, a criminal gang accused of being a tentacle of the Aragua Train in Arica, in the north of the country. They are accused of planning an attack on the courts that tried and convicted 34 of the group's members for crimes including murder, human trafficking, and arms and drug trafficking, reported El País. According to investigators, the group also planned to carry out an attack on the local prison complex to facilitate the escape of prisoners.

3.🇪🇨 Same prison, new location. The government of Ecuador announced on Monday it was cancelling a project to build a maximum security prison near the town of Archidona, in the Amazon, after a long protest by local indigenous communities. The prison is moving to Salinas, a tourist town in the coastal area of Santa Elena in the south of the country. It is the first of two prisons that President Daniel Noboa promised to build as part of his strategy to tackle organized crime, which has generated an extraordinary wave of violence in the country - including in prisons, where more than 500 inmates have been killed since 2021, many as a result of clashes between rival gangs. The new prison is expected to open in mid-2025, Primicias reported.

4.🇦🇷 ‘Schools of crime’. Speaking of prisons, that's how Argentina's Security Minister Patricia Bullrich defined them during the inauguration of a new federal penitentiary complex in the province of Santa Fe on Friday, La Nación reported. The new prison, located in the city of Coronda, will have the capacity to hold 464 people, mainly linked to drug trafficking crimes. Bullrich said the new prison is an essential part of Argentina's new security strategy.

5.🇻🇪 Abuse. The Venezuelan Prisons Observatory on Monday denounced the death of Osgual Alexander González Pérez, who, they said, was detained during protests around the disputed July elections. According to the organization, González Pérez reportedly died as a result of abuse, poor detention conditions and lack of medical care. They said he would be the second person to die in less than 72 hours. On the same day, the Venezuelan Public Ministry announced the release of 179 people who had been detained during the protests.

THE FACT

41%

Decrease in the flow of irregular migrants passing through the Darien gap on their way to the north of the continent in 2024, according to the Panamanian authorities. Most of the people passing through the area are victims of abuse at the hands of criminal organizations.

THE QUOTE

“Many women are imprisoned for minor non-violent offences related to poverty, marginalization and social inequality. This approach not only fails to address the root causes of crime, but perpetuates cycles of disadvantage and harm.”

Nicole Hogg, Secretary General of the Association for the Prevention of Torture.