The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, stated that 2,000 more gang members were transferred to the country’s high-security prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot). A facility with capacity for 40,000 members of these criminal structures and which, according to the president, is the “largest prison in America.”
The president published in X that the members of these gangs were taken from the prisons located in Izalco (west), Ciudad Barrio (east) and San Vicente (center).
Gang members “incommunicated with the outside world”
He assured that in Cecot “they will pay for the crimes committed against our people; cut off from the outside, without the possibility of leaving, nor of ordering crimes from prison.”
Until Bukele’s publication, the Security authorities of the Central American country had not reported on the movement of prisoners. At the same time, the details of this transfer are unknown.
The president did not detail how many gang members are in said 23-hectare penitentiary center, which was inaugurated at the end of January of last year.
This would be the third movement of gang members to Cecot. The first occurred at the end of February last year and the second shortly after in March.
Controversial construction of Cecot
The construction of this prison occurred amid criticism from the opposition that has pointed out a lack of transparency, mainly due to the approval in the Legislative Assembly, dominated by the ruling party, of a law that allowed customary controls in state works to be bypassed.
The construction of the infrastructure took place within the framework of an emergency regime implemented since March 2022 to combat gangs after an escalation of homicides that claimed the lives of more than 80 people in three days. This has been extended on 26 occasions for periods of 30 days at the request of the Government.
An effective regime from the official point of view
According to official data, in this context there are more than 80,000 arrests, of which more than 7,000 people have been released on parole.
The Government attributes much of the decrease in violence to this regime, which suspends rights such as the defense of detainees and the inviolability of communications.
Humanitarian organizations have received more than 6,000 complaints of human rights violations in this context. Mainly due to arbitrary arrests, torture and short-term disappearances.
This measure, which managed to accentuate the decrease in homicides that began in 2016 by previous administrations, enjoys wide popularity and was Bukele’s main banner to achieve his immediate re-election. This despite the fact that it is prohibited by the Constitution.
Source: EFE
