New images of the Mega Prison in El Salvador have been released, showing that prisoners do not even have a place to sit. Speaking about the prison, where 2,000 more prisoners were transferred, El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele said, “The number of gang members living in the world’s most criticized prison has reached 4,000,” and signaled his determination to implement it.
El Salvador is one of the Latin American countries with the highest murder rate. The country, which is not off the agenda with the crimes committed, has made a name for itself this time with its inhumane prison conditions. In recent days, hundreds of prisoners were left in their underwear and their hands and feet were chained. Photographs of naked and bound prisoners lined up in a row, leaning their heads on each other’s backs, echoed around the world.
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‘WE CLOSED FEBRUARY 25 WITH ZERO MURDERS’
These prisoners, said to be members of the world’s most dangerous gangs, were brought to the Mega Prison, which opened in March. But the prison is nothing but walls and piles of metal. El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele, who has declared a war on gangs, posted on his social media account, “We can confirm that we closed the day of February 25 with zero homicides in the whole country. Thank God,” he posted on his social media account.
‘NUMBER OF GANG MEMBERS REACHES 4 THOUSAND’
“Today, we are carrying out a new action and transferred the second group of 2,000 gang members to the Counter Terrorism Center (CECOT), bringing the number of gang members living in the world’s most criticized prison to 4,000,” Bukele said. Bukele shared a video showing gang members being transported to the prison in short shorts, tattooed bodies and bare feet under heavy security measures.
Este día, en un nuevo operativo, trasladamos al segundo grupo de 2,000 pandilleros al Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT).
Con esto, ya son 4,000 pandilleros los que habitan la cárcel más criticada del mundo. pic.twitter.com/A2oTUIYubW
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 15, 2023
PUBLIC SATISFIED WITH THE STATE OF EMERGENCY
According to a poll released by the American Central University in October 2022, 75.9 percent of El Salvadorans approve of the government’s state of emergency and believe Bukele’s policies have reduced crime.
In his speech on November 24, 2022, Bukele pointed out that more than 60,000 people had been arrested under the state of emergency since March and said that such measures had also worked in the city of Comasagua, where some gang members accused of murder were wanted. Following the strict measures taken in El Salvador, the number of murders committed between January and October 2022 decreased by 38 percent compared to the same period in 2021.
