New photos have revealed that a Venezuelan prison built under the rule of the country’s most powerful gang was its own mini-city, complete with a zoo, a pool, a nightclub and even a children’s playground. 

Venezuela’s government deployed 11,000 cops and soldiers to the Tocorón prison in the north of the country on Wednesday in order to take back control of it from the hands of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. 

The criminal group set up small shacks where some members lived with their families and had access to satellite television and the internet.

The Tren de Aragua’s zoo is said to have housed tigers, lions, crocodiles and pumas that were used to challenge prisoners and the authority of government officials.

The gang had its own nightclub, named ‘Tokio’, the Spanish name for the Japanese city, where inmates regularly partied, and a restaurant were prisoners dined with their visitors. 

There was also a baseball field, a room where gambling activities took place and another where inmates illegally mined cryptocurrency.

The Tren de Aragua built a swimming pool below the ground that was located next to a play area for children. 

‘I congratulate the more than 11 thousand members of the FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela) and police forces for the successful intervention of the Tocorón Penitentiary Center,’ President Nicolás Maduro wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, moments after the raid. 

‘We are heading towards a Venezuela free of criminal gangs,’ he added. 

Bodycam footage of the raid showed cops and soldiers storming one of the prison buildings, where a tunnel had been built. 

The underground passage featured several exits, including one that led to a lake where three wooden rafts were stationed on the shore.

‘We have put an end to the irregularities in this space, we have detected some tunnels, in that tunnel system we have prevented a massive escape, and we have controlled all those deprived of liberty,’ Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos said.

Security forces captured two detainees who fled the prison during the raid, dubbed by the Venezuelan regime as Operation Liberation Cacique Guaicaipuro.

Ceballos confirmed Thursday that 60 Tren de Aragua members had been captured and four prison officials have also been arrested for allegedly allowing the smuggling of weapons.

Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported that between 400 to 500 prisoners were still missing. Union Radio reported that the fugitives may be hiding out in the mountain area near El Junquito.

The government initiated the transfer of inmates to other jails late in the afternoon as families complained that they were left in the dark regarding their new locations. 

Business owners in the proximity were told to shut down their business the afternoon before the operation took place, news outlet NTN24 reported.

Electricity and phone signals were temporarily suspended hours before security forces entered the jail. 

The Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a non-governmental organization, raised doubts over the government’s operation at the Tocorón Penitentiary Center, where the inmate population had been reduced from 5,000 to 1,500, and believe that the gang leadership reached an agreement to give up its reign of power.

‘An intervention in which they let the ‘leaders’ go cannot be called successful, much less when it was the ‘leaders’ themselves who handed over (control of) Tocorón,’ the group said.

However, the government has remained tight-lipped about the whereabouts of Tren de Aragua leader, Héctor ‘Niño’ Guerrero, 39, Guerrero, according to a voice note obtained by media outlets, was tipped off about the impending raid and escaped with several other high-ranking gang members earlier this week.

He was serving a 17-year sentence for murder and drug trafficking and had previously escaped the jail, but reportedly had the liberty to leave the prison whenever he wanted to.

Under Guerrero, the Tren de Aragua enriched itself through extortions, human trafficking, smuggling migrants, and trafficking arms and drugs.

The gang has about 5,000 members with a presence in the states of Bolivar, Carabobo, Guárico and Lara, Miranda and Sucre.

Tren de Aragua members have also branched outside Venezuela’s borders to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Perú.

You can have your own jailhouse rock! Two-bed flat with prison basement inside converted courthouse is available to rent for £750-a-month

• The property is converted from Wakefield’s old Magistrates Court 
• Original prison cells are available to rent as storage space for an additional cost 

By Ryan Prosser

Updated: 11:32 EDT, 12 September 2023

Michigan‘s House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, which criminalizes causing someone to feel threatened by words, including the misusing of their pronouns, with the possibility of a hefty fine or even jail time.

The bill introduces hate crime penalties for causing someone to ‘feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,’ with ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity or expression’ included as protected classes. 

Offenders could face up to five years in prison for such a felony offense or a $10,000 fine.

It is part of a continues effort by Democrats in the state to advance a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda in their first months in power. 

The proposed legislation aims to replace the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and extends protection against intimidation.

Critics argue that the bill poses a threat to First Amendment rights and lacks clarity in defining ‘harassment’, leaving it open to subjective interpretation. 

The bill reads as follows: ‘Intimidate’ means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.’

If passed, penalties would be based on how the supposed victim and court ‘feel’ about a particular matter. 

What constitutes as being deemed ‘intimidation and harassment’ would be up to the interpretation of the listener and a local prosecutor.

Critics argue that the legislation could infringe on free speech rights and undermine the principles of due process. 

Michigan Democrats have made it a priority to further protect LGBTQ+ people since they took control of all levels of state government this year.

In March, lawmakers codified LGBTQ+ protections into the state’s civil rights law, permanently outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state. 

This new hate speech bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House 59-50 and will now move to the Michigan State Senate (also Democrat controlled) for further consideration.

If approved, it would expected to be signed into law by the Democratic state Governor Gretchen Whitmer.     

Distinguished Professor Emeritus William Wagner, an expert in constitutional law and former federal judge warns that the legislation could be used to silence conservative viewpoints and would oppose the due process required by the Constitution. 

‘Make no mistake about it. Those advocating for this legislation will wield these policies as a weapon capable of destroying conservative expression or viewpoints grounded in the sacred,’ Wagner told The Daily Wire. 

‘One merely needs to look at the scores of cases brought against schools, churches, businesses, and individuals around our country. Proponents use these laws to silence and financially cripple those who dare to adhere to a different viewpoint and oppose their agenda.’ 

Meanwhile, Republican Representative Angela Rigas shared her concerns about the bill targeting conservatives who speak against radical gender ideology. 

‘The state of Michigan is now explicitly allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a ‘protected class.’ This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives,’ Rigas said.

‘We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on ‘conversion’ therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think. We are determined to keep choice and opinion a free choice despite those efforts.’ 

Rigas suggested that conservatives would have to rely on the courts to challenge the legislation such is the lack of Republican influence in Michigan’s branches of power. 

‘While my colleagues are introducing great bills to counter the infringements to our freedoms, there is no current way to fix these issues without higher courts becoming involved,’ she explained. 

Earlier this week Michigan lawmakers gave final approval to legislation banning so-called conversion therapy for minors.

The legislation would prohibit mental health professionals from engaging youths in the scientifically discredited practice of trying to convert people who are LGBTQ+ to heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations.

The Michigan Senate approved the ban on a 21-15 vote – with one Republican siding with Democrats – late Tuesday after the state House previously approved the legislation. 

It now awaits final approval by Gov. Whitmer, who has previously called the therapy a ‘dangerous practice.’

Mike Pence‘s former chief-of-staff Marc Short shrugged off Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s criticism of his old boss on Monday night, after the Florida congressman mocked Pence at a young Republican conference over the weekend.

Gaetz told a crowd of millennial and Gen Z conservatives on Saturday night that Pence ‘will never be president’ and said he was a ‘nice guy, not a leader’ in response to speculation over the former vice president considering a White House bid.

The firebrand Republican also ridiculed pro-choice women by stating they are too unattractive and overweight to get pregnant.

‘I don’t know if Mike Pence will run for president in 2024, but I don’t think Matt Gaetz will have an impact on that,’ Short said on CNN.

He took a swipe at Gaetz over his ongoing federal sex trafficking probe involving a 17-year-old girl. The congressman was accused of paying for the teenager to travel across state lines in order to have sex with her.

‘I’d be surprised if he was still voting, it’s more likely he’ll be in prison for child sex trafficking by 2024,’ Short said.

‘And I’m actually surprised that Florida law enforcement still allows him to speak to teenage conferences like that. So, I’m not too worried about Matt Gaetz.’  

Gaetz had laughed off anger at his derogatory comments about women, telling those upset to ‘be offended.’

The Florida congressman on Saturday joked about the demonstrations against the Supreme Court‘s repeal of Roe v. Wade, mocking those who wanted to protect access to abortion nationwide.

‘Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions?’ Gaetz told college students at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa.

‘Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb.’

On Monday, he was asked to explain his comments.

‘I’m very pro-life and I make no apology for it,’ the 40-year-old said.

‘I’m grateful that Roe has been overturned and that Dobbs is now the jurisprudence on abortion. I find these people that go out in these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies odious – and just, like, ugly on the inside and out. I make no apology for it.’

He said he didn’t think everyone who disagreed with him was ‘an ugly person’, but condemned those who protested outside the homes of the Supreme Court justices and called for a ‘night of rage’ in Washington DC.

Gaetz was asked by Channel 3: ‘Is it safe to say that, based off your comments, you’re suggesting that these women at these abortion rallies are ugly and overweight?’

‘Yes,’ he replied.

Asked: ‘What do you say to people who think those comments are offensive?’ the congressman replied: ‘Be offended.’

Gaetz has denied the sex-trafficking allegations against him, and no charges have been filed against him. The New York Times first reported the existence of the federal investigation into Gaetz in March 2021.

‘These people are odious on the inside and out,’ Gaetz said at the summit. ‘They’re like 5’2″, 350 pounds and they’re like, “Give me my abortions or I’ll get up and march and protest.” And I’m thinking, “March?” You look like you got ankles weaker than the legal reasoning behind Roe v. Wade.

‘A few of them need to get up and march. They need to get up and march for like an hour a day, swing those arms, get the blood pumping, maybe mix in a salad.’

It’s not the first time he has ridiculed those campaigning to uphold Roe v. Wade.

In May, when the draft Supreme Court decision leaked, Gaetz made his disdain for their activism clear.

‘How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from their protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?’ Gaetz tweeted.

Spain‘s supreme court has upheld the 135-year prison sentence handed to a British teacher and nanny who created and distributed pornography featuring children in his care after changing his name following previous convictions.

Ben David Rose legally changed his identity after his conviction on child pornography charges in Britain, meaning that he did not appear as a registered sex offender during background checks in Spain.

Rose, previously known as Ben David Lewis, received a two-year suspended sentence in June 2016 for the child pornography offences in the English city of St Albans.

In August of that same year, with a new name and passport, he was working as a nanny in the Spanish city of Zaragoza, before moving to Madrid to nanny for two more young children and work as an English teacher at a private school.

When police later searched his phone, they found dozens of photos and videos of him with girls as young as six inside a classroom.

Rose was also convicted of photographing three children under 10 years old naked or in their underwear and distributing the images on the dark web from his time as a nanny in Zaragoza.

The Spanish supreme court upheld Rose’s conviction and sentence in a lower court on child pornography offences, dozens of offences linked to disclosure of secrets, and a single conviction for a ‘crime against moral integrity’. The total length of sentence totalled 135 years.

The verdict in his appeal comes at a time of heightened scrutiny for private schools in Spain, as police investigate how a lunch monitor at a French school in Barcelona was able to initiate sexual contact with children as young as five.

UK campaigners, including The Safeguarding Alliance charity, are lobbying the UK Government to amend the law on name changes.

‘Existing laws are enabling offenders to work around the system, free to obscure their identity without being monitored,’ the charity has said.

The three judges who originally convicted and imprisoned the offender found him guilty of eight counts of making child pornography, a crime of inflicting degrading treatment on another person, 32 privacy offences and one count of forgery.

As well as being handed a lengthy prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay his victims compensation ranging from £2,500 to just over £5,000 each.

The Brit paedophile changed his name by deed poll the day after his conviction. 

The judges called the Brit pervert’s crimes ‘serious’ in their lengthy written ruling, adding: ‘It’s going to be very difficult for the children’s parents to return to the situation they were in before the offender committed them, even though they receive economic compensation.’

Detectives said specialist police in the Australian city of Queensland had tipped them off about a ‘sexual predator’ they believed was in Spain who they identified following a complex probe slowed down by the suspect’s encryption techniques.

They revealed he had a criminal record in his native UK and accused him of targeting 36 children aged four to eight after tricking his way into the Spanish education system – but didn’t name him or go into detail about how he allegedly duped the system.

Ben David Lewis, as he was known before he left the UK, was arrested in August 2015 after a worker at a summer camp he founded, LL Camps in Bushey, Hertfordshire, found naked photos of children as young as three on his iPhone.

Sandra Vicente told St Albans Crown Court she felt like her brain had been ‘polluted’ after chancing upon the snaps.

She was given the phone and entry PIN by the then-26-year-old to play music at a children’s party but found the images in the deleted items after ‘getting nosey’ and went to police.

Officers found a pair of child’s underwear next to his laptop as well as videos he had taken by pointing his camera up the skirt of a young girl he was tutoring.

Prosecutor Ann Evans said police found searches on one of his iPod Touches such as ‘Can a sex offender go to the USA?, ‘Accidental downloading child porn’ and ‘How do police search computers?’

He pleaded guilty to three counts of downloading indecent images and one of taking indecent images but was spared prison after claiming he wanted to get married and have children.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

The American-style summer camp he set up with a friend was closed down by Ofsted.