(AFP) – El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele on Tuesday defended a huge prison that has become key to deportations from the United States under President Donald Trump, after drawing criticism for alleged rights abuses. The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is a maximum security facility lauded by Bukele as part of his attempts to rid the Central American country of prolific narco-gangs.
US broadcaster CBS News had been due to air an investigation Sunday about alleged abuses at CECOT on its flagship “60 Minutes” program, but it was pulled at the last minute, leading to accusations of political meddling. Bukele fired back Tuesday against allegations about the prison’s conditions, saying that “if you are convinced that torture is taking place at CECOT, El Salvador is ready to cooperate fully” by releasing the entire prison population to any country willing to take them.
“The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone,” Bukele said in the social media post, specifying that this would include “all gang leaders and all those described as political prisoners.” Bukele’s post follows former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton labeling the prison “brutal” on social media Monday. “Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison,” Clinton said in the post, in which she also shared an 11-minute video of the PBS Frontline documentary titled: “Surviving CECOT.”
CECOT has also been at the center of a major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the United States. Several deportees who have since been released have made claims of repeated abuse at the facility, with human rights groups echoing these allegations.
According to rights group Socorro Juridico Humanitario, 454 Salvadorans have died in prisons since Bukele’s crackdown began. Since March 2022, Bukele has been cracking down on gangs under a state of emergency that allows for arrests without warrants. More than 90,000 people have been detained, and some 8,000 have been released after being found not guilty, according to official sources.
On Sunday, El Salvador announced prison sentences for hundreds of convicted gang members, with some of them receiving centuries-long terms. The Salvadoran government says gang violence is responsible for 200,000 deaths over the past three decades.
© 2024 AFP
