Freedom of PCC leaders traded for $80,000, minister says

At a press conference, Paraguayan Justice Minister Cecilia Pérez Rivas said Sunday, 19, that there was a plan to release leaders of the First Command of the Capital (PCC) from the penitentiary of Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay, a border-making city with Ponta Porã, mato Grosso do Sul. Seventy-five inmates, including Brazilians linked to the criminal faction, escaped from prison on Sunday.

The minister classified the episode as "unprecedented" and pondered that she had already denounced a scheme for the release of leaders of the Brazilian faction. "We denounce the escape plan to prosecutors, the police and public opinion. There was an offer of $80,000 to release pcc leaders," Rivas said.

The Paraguayan government determines how the detainees managed to escape jail this morning and already has in hand images of the prison's internal circuit. After the escape, a tunnel was found connecting one of the pavilions to the outside area of the penitentiary. There is, however, the possibility that the detainees escaped through the front door with the complicity of prison officials. Prison directors and prison officers were fired.

"Because of the amount of sand, it is impossible that this week-long work has not been warned by these people [the agents]. If they are involved, of course we cannot expect them to tell what is happening," the justice minister said. She also stated that she put her position at the disposal of President Mario Abdo Benítez. According to Paraguayan media, the president did not accept the resignation of the minister.

Paraguayan website ABC Color published the full list of fugitives. According to the vehicle, most of them are "dangerous members" of the PCC. Among them is Osvaldo Pagliato, who is considered the head of the faction and who, in July last year, led a riot that resulted in the murder of ten inmates.