The 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua who arrived in El Salvador from the United States were immediately transferred to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), the maximum security prison in the country, where they will remain for a renewable period of one year. This was announced by the president of the Salvador Nayib Bukele, in a note on X. “The United States paid us a fee that was low for them, but high for us,” the president added. “Over time, this type of action, combined with the production generated by more than 40 inmates working in different laboratories, will make our prison system sustainable. Today it costs us 200 million dollars a year,” Bukele added. On the same occasion, the US also repatriated 23 members of the criminal organization Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), including two leaders. “This will help us finalize intelligence information and pursue what remains of the group, including other members, money, weapons, drugs, collaborators and financiers,” Bukele commented, claiming the benefits in the fight against organized crime. “This time we are also helping our allies, making our prison system sustainable and obtaining vital intelligence information to make the country safer,” Bukele concluded.
In a post on X, Rubio wrote that the US has sent “two dangerous MS-13 leaders and 21 other members to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by the US president Donald Trump, we sent 250 members of the Tren de Aragua, which El Salvador has agreed to host in their excellent prisons, at a ‘fair price’ that will save our taxpayers money.” The Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, added the Secretary of State, “is not only the strongest leader in the region, but also a great friend of the United States. Thank you!”.
The operation is the result of an agreement between the two governments worked out during a visit by Rubio to the Central American country in early February. On that occasion, Bukele had offered Washington to help externalize the penitentiary system, including in its prisons also those convicted in the United States, including US citizens, in exchange for the payment of a fee by Washington. “We are available to take convicted criminals (including US citizens) in our mega-prison Cecot, in exchange for the payment of a sum, which will be relatively small for the United States, but significant for us, and will make the entire prison system sustainable,” Bukele said in a note on X. Rubio thanked him for “the extraordinary gesture” and wrote on X that “Bukele’s commitment to accepting and incarcerating criminals from any country, including gangs like M13 and Tren de Aragua, will make America safer.”
The “Confinement Center Against Terrorism” (CECOT), a mega-prison built in Tecoluca, in the southeast of the country and capable of holding up to 40 people, is one of the key projects in Bukele’s security strategy. Inaugurated in January 2023, the prison is guarded by 250 police officers and 600 soldiers and houses the leaders of the country’s historic gangs, MS-13 Barrio 18. In the name of fighting crime and increasing security, the country has been in a state of emergency for three years: a measure that has allowed over 85 people to be arrested and the number of murders to be drastically reduced.
However, the measure is strongly criticized by human rights organizations, according to which, in at least 3.500 cases of arrest, human rights have been violated and security forces have carried out several arbitrary arrests. In addition, the state of emergency suspends the presumption of innocence and the right to defense (Article 12 of the Constitution), the guarantee of a maximum period of administrative detention – which according to the Constitution (Article 13) can be a maximum of 72 hours –, and the inviolability of telecommunications, in particular interception and interference with communications (Article 24).
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