In late October, a group of CNN reporters was granted a first-of-its-kind visit to the now-infamous terrorism confinement center known as CECOT.
Located in a remote area of El Salvador, CECOT is surrounded by electrified fences, concrete barriers, and barbed wire. Built to hold up to 40,000 inmates, the facility’s current population is estimated at 14,500. Built in just seven months and opened roughly two years ago, CECOT has become a symbol of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and his controversial crackdown on gang violence.
Bukele is the first Salvadoran president since the late 1980’s who does not belong to either of the nation’s primary political parties (the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)).
Bukele founded his own political party – Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) – in 2017 after he was ousted from the FMLN. He won a landslide victory in 2019 on promises to tackle gang violence and was re-elected in 2024 with over 85% of the vote after the nation’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on consecutive presidential terms.
Before Bukele’s presidency, El Salvador was ruled by its gangs and made headlines as the ‘murder capital of the world.’ Statistics from 2016 show up to one homicide taking place every hour.
Fast-forward to 2024 and there are now more days without murders than with in El Salvador. A total of just over 100 homicides were reported between January and September of this year.
How was this transformation accomplished?
Bukele declared a “state of exception” in March 2022 shortly after a gang violence episode that resulted in 62 deaths. The “state of exception” allowed his administration to ignore certain laws and constitutional rights. It was at this time that he launched his “territorial control plan” to remove gang influence and reduce homicide.
Since then, an astonishing 81,000 criminals (representing 1% of El Salvador’s population) have been arrested. At least 7,000 of those arrested were later found innocent and released, though it is unavoidable that some innocents remain behind bars.
Bukele, whose methods have been described as “authoritarian” and “autocratic,” told reporters why El Salvador now has the largest per capita incarceration rate in the world:
“Because we turned the world’s murder capital into the safest country in the Western Hemisphere. The only way to achieve that is to arrest the murderers…we don’t have a death penalty, so we have to imprison them all.”
Though his punitive strategies have raised human rights concerns throughout Latin America and the West, Bukele’s campaign against gang violence has reconstructed Salvadoran society and earned him uncharacteristically high job-approval ratings from locals. Salvadorans who spoke with the team from CNN said they feel much safer under Bukele’s leadership and are reassured by the presence of armed guards patrolling their neighborhoods.
One of the primary criticisms against Bukele is CECOT and the treatment of those trapped within.
Inmates are imprisoned for 23.5 hours each day and living conditions are more than stark: cells are designed to hold groups of up to 80, with members of the same gangs being placed together to avoid conflict. Cells contain nothing but metal bunks (without bedding), open toilets, plastic buckets and cement basins in lieu of showers, and large jugs for drinking water.
Inmates are not permitted to write or accept letters, play cards, or even read books. All meals are vegetarian. There is no privacy and the lights are never dimmed.
Inmates who commit crimes against their fellows are punished even further with 15 days solitary confinement in a dark, empty room with nothing but a tiny hole in the ceiling two stories above to let in a glimmer of light.
“This is what is for us,” says Marvin Vásquez, a 41-year-old inmate who spoke with the team from CNN. “They give you the three times a [day] food. They give you some programs. You get to do exercise. Some church or religion programs, too. But you know, that’s how it is. We got to get used to what we got to get used to right here. There’s no option for us. We did bad things. We pay it the rough way, doing time.”
El Salvador does not support the death penalty, and many if not all of CECOT’s residents expect to remain behind bars for the rest of their lives. Vásquez, a former leader of the notorious gang MS-13, has committed up to 30 murderers. “Some people wanted to be lawyers, cops, soldiers [when they grew up],” he added. “I wanted to be a gangbanger.”
Do individuals like Vásquez deserve humane treatment?
Juan Carlos Sánchez, a human rights advocate and program officer with the Due Process of Law Foundation, is one of many who have spoken out against the treatment of CECOT’s inmates.
“The abuse starts with how they enter the prison and how they are kept inside … it’s too extreme,” argues Sánchez. “For example, the food of a person in state custody…is a human right that cannot be deprived…it must be an adequate diet for them, not just to survive.”
Perhaps the biggest issue here is the fact that CECOT is also used to hold individuals not yet convicted – a fact that brings into question whether inmates’ right to due process is being upheld.
“Under these conditions, if they are ever out, they will not be rehabilitated…they will become a burden for the state, they will come out sick physically, mentally, they will come out with rage,” laments Sánchez.
His words raise a variety of concerns; concerns which in the US would likely be considered more important than the actual reduction in violence taking place:
- Should the constitutional rights of rapists and murderers be protected?
- Is the unavoidable incarceration of innocents alongside gang members worth the impact on the greater good?
- Is the Bukele Administraiton guilty of crimes against gang members?
- Would the death penalty be a more humane method of punishment than CECOT?
These questions are clearly not important to Salvadoran Public Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro, who claims that rehab is only possible for ‘common criminals’ (and not for the sort of people imprisoned at CECOT).“Someone who every day killed people – every day raped our girls, how can you change their minds? We are not stupid.”
In response to unfavorable press, CECOT’s prison director, Belarmino García, assured reporters that due process is being followed and that all human rights are being upheld. In his opinion, the harsh environment at CECOT is ‘justified and necessary.’
Author’s Note: The obvious success of Bukele’s methods – even considering human rights concerns – presents a stark contrast to the way in which violent crime is handled in the United States, especially when perpetrators happen to be illegal immigrants. I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Editor’s Note: The Constitution is not a suicide pact. El Salvador had sunk completely into anarchy, this was perhaps the only way to solve it, within the reach of the elected leaders. An outright rebellion would not be as dangerous.
Sources: “Exclusive: Locking eyes with mass murderers in El Salvador”
Wikipedia: Terrorism Confinement Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Confinement_Center
Wikipedia: Nayib Bukele