“The gang members will be in their rightful place, in the Terrorism Confinement Center.” With this forcefulness, the Secretary of Communications of El Salvador announced the start-up of the “largest security prison in all of America”, inaugurated in January and in which 2,000 gang members have already been interned.

“In the face of any attempted disturbance, they will face more than 600 elements of the Armed Forces and 250 police officers, 4 security rings and 19 watchtowers,” the agency said.

the prison It has a capacity for 40,000 people, as announced by President Nayib Bukele. “In a single operation, we transferred the first 2,000 gang members to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT),” the president published on his social networks. The images of prisoners shirtless, with the characteristic gang tattoos, handcuffed, crouched and piled up, have traveled the world in recent days, with many detractors. for the lack of humanity in the treatment.

Bukele inaugurated the CECOT at the end of January and the Minister of Public Works, Romeo Rodríguez, told the president that this “It would become the largest prison in all of America” and “it would be impossible for a prisoner to get out“of the enclosure, which It has 23 hectares of construction, 600 members of the Armed Forces and 250 police officers, as well as four security rings and 19 watchtowers.

Bukele has assured this week that the number of homicides in El Salvador “is now in single digits.” The message was a response to a proposal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro Petro to hold an “international forum” to compare the experiences of both countries regarding the reduction of homicides. “Our experience: from more than 100 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, we are now in single digit figures. And the reduction was rapid, because the dead do not recover,” Bukele published. Previously, Petro denounced that they can be seen on networks “The terrible photos – I can’t get into other countries – of the concentration camp in El Salvadorfull of young people, thousands and thousands, imprisoned that gives one the chills”.

“I think that there are people who like that, without a doubt, seeing the youth inside the prisons and they believe that this is security and popularity soars, without a doubt,” said Petro, who added that “the president of El Salvador he feels proud because he managed to reduce the homicide rate starting, he says, from a subjugation of the gangs that today are in those jails, in my opinion, Dantesque”.

On the other hand, a spokesperson for the United States Department of State told EFE on Thursday that the Bukele government it has the “responsibility” to guarantee the security of the population, in addition to respecting human rights and due process. “We recognize the challenge facing El Salvador to curb gang violence“said the spokesman for US diplomacy, adding that” guaranteeing public security is the responsibility of governments. “They also have the responsibility to ensure due process of law and to respect human rights“, he indicated.