Welcome to the infamous San Antonio Prison on Margarita Island, where the inmates run the show and prisoners can do anything, except leave:

On the outside, the San Antonio prison on Margarita Island looks like any other Venezuelan penitentiary. Soldiers in green fatigues stand at its gates. Sharpshooters squint from watchtowers. Guards cast menacing glances at visitors before searching them at the entrance.

But once inside, the prison for more than 2,000 Venezuelans and foreigners held largely for drug trafficking looks more like a Hugh Hefner-inspired fleshpot than a stockade for toughened smugglers.

Bikini-clad female visitors frolic under the Caribbean sun in an outdoor pool. Marijuana smoke flavors the air. Reggaetón booms from a club filled with grinding couples. Paintings of the Playboy logo adorn the pool hall. Inmates and their guests jostle to place bets at the prison’s raucous cockfighting arena.

“The Venezuelan prisoners here run the show, and that makes life inside a bit easier for us all,” said Fernando Acosta, 58, a Mexican pilot jailed since 2007.

Simon Romero of The New York Times has the story: Link (Photo: Meridith Kohut)

Cosmetic surgery, especially breast enlargement, is widespread in image-conscious Venezuela, whose beauty queens have won numerous international pageant titles.

Even a recession has not diminished Venezuelans’ appetite for cosmetic surgery with many people taking out loans for the surgery.

Mr Rojas, of the opposition First Justice party, told El Universal newspaper that he was not too worried about the medical details of his offer.

“The raffle is a financing mechanism, nothing else,” he told the newspaper. “It’s the doctor who will do the operation, not me.”

Link | Image: US FDA

A heart breaking look at the slums of the world.  For all of us who complain about our lives, and how poor we are.....just take a look. I guarantee you'll never think of yourself as poor again.

The Venezuelan capital is located in a valley, with commercial districts and well-heeled residential areas near the valley floor. But look upward in any direction, and you will see shantytowns built into the steep hillside.

The population of Caracas has more than quadrupled in the last 50 years, fueled in part by Venezuela's recent oil boom. Despite President Hugo Chavez's populist platform, and even though Venezuela holds South America's largest oil reserves, about 50 percent of Caraquenos live in poor neighborhoods known as barrios. These neighborhoods lack access to basic municipal services such as waste collection, regular mail delivery, sewage system, and legal electric connections.

The barrios also face a serious security issue. According to UNESCO, firearms kill more people in Venezuela than in any other country not at war. In 2007, the annual tally approached 12,000 murders countrywide. In the tattered social fabric of Caracas and its barrios, internecine gang warfare, robbery, and other violent crime produce 100 homicides a week.

Link - via boingboing

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by amdela.