President Nayib Bukele defends the CECOT prison amid abuse allegations, as the facility becomes a key destination for Trump-era US deportations.
SAN SALVADOR: President Nayib Bukele has defended El Salvador’s massive Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, a facility central to deportations from the United States under President Donald Trump.
Bukele’s defence follows criticism over alleged human rights abuses at the maximum-security prison, which is a cornerstone of his crackdown on powerful narcotics gangs.
The controversy intensified after a CBS News “60 Minutes” investigation into alleged abuses was pulled from broadcast, sparking accusations of political interference.
Bukele responded on social media, challenging critics by offering to release the entire prison population to any country willing to accept them.
“The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone,” Bukele stated, specifying this would include “all gang leaders and all those described as political prisoners.”
His post came after former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton labelled the prison “brutal” online.
Clinton shared an 11-minute documentary video titled “Surviving CECOT,” which features testimonies from deportees.
CECOT is central to a major US legal case involving hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants sent there by the Trump administration in March.
Released deportees and human rights groups have made repeated abuse allegations concerning the facility.
Rights group Socorro Juridico Humanitario reports 454 Salvadorans have died in prisons since Bukele’s crackdown began.
The crackdown, operating under a state of emergency since March 2022, has led to over 90,000 arrests without warrants.
Official sources state approximately 8,000 detainees have been released after being found not guilty.
El Salvador recently announced centuries-long prison sentences for hundreds of convicted gang members.
The government attributes 200,000 deaths over the past three decades to gang violence.
