Thousands of inmates in El Salvador were moved to a “mega-prison” Friday amid the Central American nation’s crackdown on gang activity.
President Nayib Bukele said that 2,000 suspected gang members were moved to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, a 40,000-person capacity prison that Reuters reported is one of the largest in the Americas.
“This will be their new house, where they will live for decades … unable to do any more harm to the population,” Mr. Bukele said in a promotional tweet about the operation.
Hoy en la madrugada, en un solo operativo, trasladamos a los primeros 2,000 pandilleros al Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT).
Esta será su nueva casa, donde vivirán por décadas, mezclados, sin poder hacerle más daño a la población.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) February 24, 2023
A video shared by the president shows a mass of prisoners with their heads shaved and only wearing white shorts as they run in formation to their prison cells. Many of the inmates shown in the video have visible gang tattoos.
More than 64,000 people have been arrested in the past year after Mr. Bukele pushed El Salvador’s legislature to pass a state of exception, which allows the country to suspend certain rights in an effort to carry out the gang crackdown.
That includes warrantless arrests, the government accessing private communications and suspects no longer having a right to a lawyer, according to Reuters
Human rights organizations have expressed concern over the innocent people arrested — and who have sometimes died while in police custody — but the aggressive tactics remain popular with Salvadorans.
El Salvador’s security minister told Reuters that the operation would continue until all criminals are captured.
