All the "corrupt" to a prison island!
A presidential candidate in Colombia proposed reviving
the South American Alcatraz.
And although no one took the initiative seriously, it did stir the memory of Gorgona, the penitentiary where thousands of convicts were taken
until 1984
, with almost no hope of survival.
Located off the coast of southwestern Colombia, Gorgona is on
the list of sinister prisons
like Alcatraz in the United States or Robben Island in South Africa.
Far from sight, under the threat of snakes, inmates were left at the mercy of ruthless guards and dangerous convicts.
"Damn this place... damn it.
Here you can only breathe sadness
," a prisoner wrote in a poem.
The entrance to the infernal prison (Luis Robayo / AFP).
Only the walls devoured by the jungle and humidity
remain of the prison .
Some tourists come to dive or enjoy what is now Gorgona National Park, which can only be accessed by boat from the Guapi municipality, through the choppy waters of the Pacific.
Gorgon, who took her name from
the Medusa of Greek mythology
, looms as a dark and almost gloomy mass.
Gray clouds settle over its volcanic mountains of thick jungle.
Below dolphins and humpback whales frolic.
It rains daily.
In 1526 the island was discovered by the Spanish conquerors, who according to the chronicles of the time
lost 87 men to snake bites.
A haven for pirates,
then a private property, the Colombian State appropriated the island in the 1960s to build a high-security prison.
What remains of the prison infirmary (Luis Robayo / AFP).
"There are many legends about Gorgona," says Corazón de Jesús Aguiño, a good-natured 57-year-old guide.
"Most of them are unverifiable," but "what is certain is that it was
a place of terrible punishment and suffering
," he summarizes.
Confined to two hectares behind a barbed wire fence, there were
more than a thousand prisoners,
from criminals convicted of murder and rape to protagonists of the political violence of the 20th century.
Model of a Nazi camp
"The prison was built following
the model of Nazi camps
," explains the guide.
Three or four patios, each with its own bedrooms, and a hallway that led to the
punishment room
.
Only one of the blocks is still standing.
Giant roots and vines climb the walls.
Branches snake through the drains.
There is no longer a roof, but a thick vegetation cover.
There is also a suffocating cathedral with a statue of a virgin and a child.
Puddles here, moss there and the incessant buzz of insects.
"Visitors sometimes perceive something very negative," Corazón acknowledges.
Long tables eaten away by mold survive in the dining room.
The convicts used to settle their scores in the neighboring latrines
.
"The guards watched everything" from a cement walkway.
Aerial view of one of the prison pavilions (Luis Robayo / AFP).
A single bedroom
full of bats
resists the advance of vegetation.
"Each prisoner was assigned a number," says the guide.
The visits were exceptional.
Only the most docile could go out to cut down the forest.
The
120 guards
reigned freely.
The most feared punishment was that
of the "cylinder"
: a hole 80 cm wide where the prisoner was forced to stand
for days without moving
, submerged up to the neck in rainwater mixed
with excrement.
Gorgon was hell
How many men died on the Gorgon?
"No one really knows. But
homicides were the main cause of death
," Corazon responds.
"Torture, mistreatment, infected food... upon my arrival, Gorgona was hell," acknowledges the last director of the prison, Major Miguel Darío López, in an interview with AFP
in
Bogotá.
In office since 1981, López, 78, is proud of having put an end to the abuses and "pacified" the prison.
"
The guards were thieves, corrupt
, they took revenge on the prisoners. It was the customs of the troops," laments this retired police officer with his gun always at his side.
The cells of the Gorgon (Luis Robayo / AFP).
"Ten cylinders were still working," and he adds: "There was also torture by hunger. The detainees were only allowed to eat potatoes and a little rice. Sometimes
almost raw snake."
"They cried often, they all had mental problems. They killed each other with homemade blades or
strangled each other with a rag
."
In addition to snakes and tarantulas, "the beaches were infested with sharks and barracudas. That's not a legend!" López insists.
"Almost
150 prisoners died at Gorgona
," according to its former director.
"With the help of Franciscan priests and evangelical pastors, we worked to resocialize the prisoners," he recalls.
A "human rights committee" was created in each courtyard.
"The diet was improved, some prisoners were taught to fish. Visits increased."
"Through music, painting and even Latin, we manage to calm the inmates, teach them to forgive," says López, showing a scar on the palm of his hand, a reminder of a knife fight he tried to stop.
Those who escaped
"With me there was no more death," swears the former director.
In a yellowed photo he appears next to a fugitive recaptured after
spending three days at sea on a raft of logs.
"It was very difficult to escape,
five or six managed it
," says Corazón.
Most of the fugitives were picked up by passing ships and relocated, among them Eduardo Muñetón Tamayo, the "Colombian Papillon", who escaped in 1969 and
was recaptured three years later.
Also Daniel Camargo Barbosa, alias
the "sadist of the puddle",
a serial killer who escaped in 1984 and was left for dead at sea before being recaptured in Ecuador.
Convicts used to settle their scores in the latrines (Luis Robayo / AFP).
Gorgona was closed in 1984 under pressure from human rights activists, but also from environmentalists and scientists concerned about the protection of this natural paradise, whose forest cover was affected by the existence of the prison.
Registered on the green list of protected areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the island has more than
500 varieties of plants, 380 species of fish, 167 types of birds
and is considered a model of conservation in the world.
With the jungle absorbing the ruins, "the government will have to decide what it wants to preserve from the prison," observes a national park employee.
"Is it a cultural and historical asset? Or do we let it disappear forever?"
There have been several Government initiatives in recent years to reopen an Armed Forces establishment on Gorgona Island, but several groups oppose such a measure so as not to damage the environment.
AFP Agency and others
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