Drug cartel ruled in Mexico prison hit by riot

MONTERREY, Mexico – Authorities found dozens of knives, cocaine and flat-screen televisions at the Mexican prison where a brawl killed 49 inmates, officials said Friday, February 12, highlighting the control drug cartels hold over many penitentiaries.

The battle at the Topo Chico prison in the northern industrial city of Monterrey was triggered by a power struggle between rival leaders of the Zetas gang, authorities said.

Officials acknowledged that the prisoners had their own “self-government” at the facility, where 100 guards monitored 3,800 convicts.

After reclaiming control following the pre-dawn riot on Thursday, February 11, authorities found half a kilogram of marijuana, 23 doses of crack cocaine, 30 doses of cocaine, 120 makeshift blades, 80 knives, 60 hammers, 400 lighters, 16 USB sticks, 10 MP3 players, and two 67-inch (170-centimeter) televisions, Rodriguez said.

“There is a self-government, obviously because of the financial shortfall and the lack of guards,” Rodriguez said, adding that the prison was overcrowded by 35%.

An official at the state’s human rights commission, Sylvia Puente Aguilar, said extortion, beatings and murders are common at the prison.

“There is a dispute because illegal activities have been detected inside, such as drug dealing,” Aguilar told Milenio television.

Fear of sleeping

The prison battle was triggered by a dispute over control of the facility between rival Zetas members Jorge Ivan Hernandez Cantu, alias “El Credo,” and Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias, alias “El Z-27,” according to the authorities.

Following the clash, both Zetas leaders were among 233 inmates who were transferred from the state facility to federal prisons, where people convicted of more serious crimes are usually held.

Relatives of victims sobbed as they read a list of the dead outside the prison. Twelve other inmates were injured.

Forty bodies have been identified and all had wounds consistent with stabbings or beatings with hammers and sticks, Rodriguez said.

A former inmate told Agence France-Presse about a dangerous life inside the prison.

“You never sleep well because if you sleep deeply, the scorpion will sting you,” said Juan, a 28-year-old former convict who was released last month.

Covered in tattoos up to his forehead, Juan said around 50 Zetas drug cartel members lord over the prison and are protected by the authorities “because they have a lot of money” from a “tax” they charge other inmates.

Juan, who would not give his full name out of safety concerns, was waiting for news about the fate of his brother, a prisoner at Topo Chico.

Linda, a 25-year-old secretary, said her husband, who is being held in the prison for drug trafficking, told her that those fighting for control recruit “inmates who have nothing to do” with the power struggle.

“You could see this coming,” said Linda, who added that her husband has faced death threats and was beaten on Thursday after the riot was over.

Eight inmates sleep in her husband’s cell, with some forced to lie on the floor.

“The food is terrible, the drains smell bad and there are rats,” Linda said.

Reform promise

The riot erupted on the eve of Pope Francis’s 5-day trip to Mexico, during which he is due to visit another notorious prison in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

But National Security Commissioner Renato Sales said the pope would visit a safe facility, telling local radio that the prison is a “national exception” because the Chihuahua state authorities have established an “orderly and disciplined” penitentiary system.

But Sales admitted that “the criminals are the ones in control” of Topo Chico and that “unfortunately, this is happening in a good part of our country’s prisons.”

Out of 389 Mexican prisons, more than 70% are “overcrowded and ungovernable,” the national security commissioner said.

The United Nations’ anti-drug and human rights agencies condemned the latest riot, saying it highlights the “grave situation” at Mexican prisons, as many have become “de facto recruitment centers for criminal organizations.”

President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration vowed to reform the penitentiary system after powerful drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman tunneled his way out the country’s top maximum-security prison last year. He was recaptured in January.

“If the best prison in the country was like that, how are the rest?” said Alejandro Hope, a security expert and former Mexican intelligence agency officer. – Leticia Pineda, AFP/Rappler.com