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Terrorism Containment Center, known by its Spanish acronym CECOT, is the Salvadoran mega-prison at the center of a recent controversy within the flagship CBS news channel 60 minutes.
A prison segment that took a critical look at the Trump administration’s deportation policies was shot hours before broadcastangering CBS employees and raising questions about the U.S. government’s influence over the news division.
But the prison complex was controversial long before 60 minutes got involved, and even before the United States sent hundreds of migrants there, most of them Venezuelans, without trial.
What is CECOT? And why does a prison in rural El Salvador, often described as “notorious,” have anything to do with the United States?
Here’s a closer look.
Centerpiece of the repression led by the “coolest dictator”
Opened in February 2023, the centerpiece of the fight against gangs led by President Nayib Bukele, the prison is considered the largest in the Americas.
The 23-hectare complex is about 70 kilometers east of the capital, San Salvador, and can house 40,000 inmates.
The installation, which cost US$115 million, is part of Bukele’s project. very popular radical security policywhich led to a sharp drop in homicides.
Calling himself “the coolest dictator in the world,” Bukele, 44, declared a state of emergency in March 2022, which led to the arrest of tens of thousands of people, including suspected gang members.
How is it inside?
The complex includes eight large pavilions, each with cells for up to 70 prisoners, the SAIS journal of international affairs from Johns Hopkins University said in an analysis earlier this year.
It prioritizes safety and isolation over rehabilitation.
The cells are windowless and the bunks are bare and metal. Each cell has two sinks and two toilets without any privacy. Cameras and guards are everywhere.
A report from Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in September last year, they raised concerns about overcrowding at CECOT, citing a study that found inmates had an average of 0.6 square meters of space, below international standards, which range from three to six meters of space.
Footage from the facility – often slickly produced photos and videos – shows prisoners huddled together, with their heads shaved and wearing only shorts.
The prison does not have an outdoor recreation area and no family visits are allowed. The dining halls, rest rooms, gym and board games are reserved for guards.
In the 60 minutes segment, which was briefly available in Canadatwo men deported to CECOT reported being tortured, beaten and ill-treated. A Venezuelan man said he was punished with sexual abuse and solitary confinement.
Another was a student who said guards beat him and knocked out his tooth when he arrived.
“When you get there, you already know you’re in hell. You don’t need anyone to tell you that,” he said.
Why is the United States involved?
Bukele invited them.
During a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February, the Salvadoran president proposed incarcerating criminals deported from the United States in this mega-prison.
The Trump administration seized on it in March, invoking an 18th-century war law to send mostly Venezuelan migrants accused of gang membership to CECOT.
SAIS magazine says the agreement between the two countries contributes to Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown while burnishing Bukele’s strongman image and offering financial incentives.
The U.S. government paid El Salvador about $6 million to accommodate the deportees, the White House said.
Why is prison controversial?
Even before the United States got involved, many human rights organizations criticized El Salvador’s prisons and especially CECOT. Groups have reported human rights violations, including torture, mass trials and hundreds of detainee deaths.
At the same time, the prison has drawn praise from law-and-order politicians and many Salvadorans, who praised the reduction in homicides during Bukele’s crackdown on gangs.
WATCH | How Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to deport people:
The Trump administration deported more than 200 immigrants using the Alien Enemies Act – a war measure – accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Andrew Chang explains how Trump is interpreting the language of the 1798 law to avoid the standard immigration court system, and why experts say it’s a slippery slope.
As for the U.S. expulsions, lawyers and relatives of the migrants sent to El Salvador say they are not gang members and have not been given a chance to challenge the U.S. government’s assertion that they were.
The judges also questioned the vague claims and meager evidence coming from the United States.
Human Rights Watch and the Central American human rights organization Cristosal found that “252 Venezuelans were subjected to what amounts to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international human rights law.”
In a report released last month, the two groups said interviews with nearly 200 people revealed inhumane conditions at CECOT, including a lack of food, hygiene, sanitation and health care.
The groups called on the government and human rights bodies, including the United Nations, to step up their monitoring of human rights violations by the United States and El Salvador.
