President Donald Trump can now send US people to El Salvador, which is regarded as “the world’s worst prison.”
In an effort to combat gang violence, President Nayib Bukele’s administration opened the maximum security jail Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) in 2023.
The most dangerous criminals in the nation are housed in this Tecoluca facility, which is regarded as one of the safest in the world and can house 40,000 people.
The compound is surrounded by 19 towers and is guarded by two concrete walls and two electric gates. A security crew within the prison keeps an eye on the convicts around-the-clock.
Miguel Sarre, a member of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, once called it a “concrete and steel pit,” yet it appears that the Trump administration supports CECOT.
President Bukele has “agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” according to a statement made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, February 3.
Regardless of their nationality, the president of El Salvador stated that he is pleased to accept those who have been deported from the United States.
We can send them and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio clarified.
“He [Bukele] has also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re US citizens or legal residents.”
He has ‘given the United States of America the option to outsource part of its prison system,’ the Salvadoran leader added.
However, he stated that his administration would do so “in exchange for a fee” and that he would be “willing to take in only convicted criminals.”
Leire Venta, a BBC News Mundo correspondent, spoke candidly about her visit to the prison last year.
“It is the middle of the night, but in here, the artificial lights are never turned off,” she said.
“A waft of air filters through the lattice ceiling, providing a brief respite from the heat. The temperature in the cells can reach 35C during the day and there is no other source of ventilation.”
“Hooded guards keep watch from above, gun in hand.”
“Below, the prisoners climb onto the four-story bunks on which they sleep. Without any mattresses or sheets, they have to lie on bare metal.”
“They eat the food they are given – rice, beans, hard-boiled eggs or pasta – with their hands.”
She said the director of the center told her, “Here are the psychopaths, the terrorists, the murderers who had our country in mourning.”
“Don’t look them in the eyes. Any utensil can be [fashioned into] a deadly weapon.”
