. El Salvador has never been a model country for human rights. The country has become synonymous with pictures of men with tattoos holding AK47s. What most don’t picture is the revamped justice system. Reports regarding the new justice system caused a lot of media attention, and human rights organizations began calling attention to the draconian mega prison (CECOT) of El Salvador. New methods to handle crime and prisoners across the nation were also implemented around the same time as the mega prion’s construction. The complex, a towering brutalist symbol, was called CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo).
. In 2022, CECOT was completed. Its steel beams and metal beds stood in all their glory. It spans 57 acres in total. The gargantuan structure reflects the all-encompassing issue the country had been facing. For many decades the people of El Salvador were suffocated by gangs and cartels. Everyone felt the issue and hundreds have lost family and friends to the endless gun violence and thoughtless brutality. A contributing factor to homicide rates was the United States deporting many violent criminals into El Salvador from california. Worsening this further, a civil war which absolutely crippled the resources of the people happened in the 80’s. This was also directly funded by the United States, they gave a minimum of five billion dollars to the corrupt government. Mass graves were filled to the brim; farmers, children, priests and criminals all laid to rest in the same dug out pits. The people and the country never fully recovered, the gruesome sight forever burned into the psyche of the country.
. The extreme crime started not soon after that war, the government infrastructure fell through, gangs and lobbyists became one in the same. Organized crime had severely corrupted the government of El Salvador. The real government did not hold enough legitimacy to enforce laws to crack down on this. If they did, they’d be putting a glowing red target on themselves and their associates.
. Finally in 2019, Nayib Bukele was elected president of El Salvador, and immediately took extreme action regarding crime rate reduction.
. Radical change requires radical action; however, many consider CECOT and its. The new justice system in El Salvador has been called “Draconian” and a “black hole of human rights” as stated by the BBC. There are many instances where the conditions in El Salvadoran prisons violate global standards of prisoners rights. There are even instances where people will be arrested under no reasonable suspicion, and some are detained on the basis of arbitrary traits like having tattoos or happening to live near or on gang territory. Sometimes these people can’t defend themselves well enough without representation and get sent to jail without a proper trial, only to disappear forever into one of the dozens of new prisons Bukele has set up. Horrifically, there have already been around 150 deaths in state custody since the new system was set up, and an additional 261 have died in prison. 72 of which with undisclosed causes according to state prison reports.
. Those are the statistics from the prisons excluding CECOT, many of the dead were nonviolent criminals. The people who get sent to CECOT, however, are a different story. While human rights activists like to focus on the conditions within the mega prison, it’s essential to remember that it’s only for top ranking cartel and gang members. People that are legally considered terrorists by the government: assassins, rapists, weapons smugglers, etc. These are dangerous people who are serving multiple life sentences with no bail or chance of parole. Most of them have more than one homicide charge under their belt, most of them are the reason for the loss of an innocent life . The reason for the dismantlement of a country.
. The conditions of CECOT reflect this. The prisoners are allowed a 30 minute walk along with body weight exercises before being put back into their cells. They sleep on solid metal sheets, they eat only one tortilla and a pile of vegetables for their meals and only a few of them are afforded the privilege of having a bible to study. One of the most jarring details for most people is the amount of men stuffed into a cell. In one of the few public statements from the director of CECOT, he states, “where you can fit ten people, you can fit twenty- or one hundred.” There was a count of around 153 men per cell and two public toilets at the very front of the cell, no privacy. The ventilation is next to nothing despite Central America’s harsh and humid weather. It’s still better than the conditions those criminals forced the people of their country to live in for many years.
. Though outside media have expressed criticism and concern however, 92% of El Salvadorans thought favorably of President Bukele. To them, it is a new era of the country. They may finally go outside without worrying about having a weapon pulled on them, they may finally run businesses without needing to pay “protection” to a cartel every week. They can simply be people again, and that’s what a lot of outside media outlets don’t understand.
. Bukele is so favored because his iron fist ruling did something to change the lives of his people. There is something to be said in the way the people felt their humanity had been returned to them as if it never left. There Something to be said in the relieved smiles of parents who can send their kids to school with less worries. The people may finally take a well-deserved breath of normalcy.
