Bukele faces more criticism for the transfer of gang members

President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukelefaced fresh international criticism after this week’s transfer of another 2,000 gang members to a new high-security prison with a capacity for 40,000 members of these criminal structures.

Bukele was ironic about the comments that indicated that the prisoners arrived at the new prison with their torsos exposed, bent over and handcuffed.

“Are you saying that the evil dictatorship does not dress the prisoners in formal clothes? Bose? Right now, we’re allocating from the children’s hospital budget to buy them shoes!”, he replied.

The first transfer took place at the end of February, on that occasion the relatives of the prisoners who have been under the emergency regime in force since the end of March were mobilized outside the prison.

“This day, in a new operation, we transferred another group of 2,000 gang members to the Counter Terrorism Center (Cecot),” the president announced on Twitter, adding that “there are already 4,000 gang members who inhabit the most criticized prisons in the world.” .

bukele officially opened Cecot at the end of January and the Minister of Public WorksRomeo Rodríguez, told the president that this “will become the largest prison in all of America” ​​and that “it would be impossible for a prisoner to leave” the complex, which has 23 hectares of built-up areas.

The construction of this prison took place amid criticism from the opposition, which pointed to a lack of transparency, mainly due to the adoption of a law that allowed the bypassing of normal controls in state affairs in the legislative assembly, which is dominated by the ruling party.

In early March, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the maximum-security prison was actually a “concentration camp.”

This statement sparked a series of exchanges between Bukele and Peter on Twitter.

Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern for this new prison in El Salvador, and expressed “deep concern” considering that “the construction of this new prison could mean the continuation and escalation of these abuses”.