By Zoila Palma: For more than a decade, repression under Venezuela’s Maduro regime has forced roughly 8 million people to flee the country, nearly 1 million of them to the United States.
As part of the largest U.S. immigration crackdown in recent history, hundreds of Venezuelans were deported last year to El Salvador, a country many had no prior connection to.
Under a $4.7 million agreement brokered by President Trump, Venezuelan deportees were sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, as part of the administration’s effort to dismantle the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Two Venezuelans interviewed by 60 Minutes said they were detained after attempting to enter the United States and request asylum.
One of them, Luis Muñoz Pinto, said he entered the U.S. legally through an appointment with Customs and Border Protection under the CBP One program but was detained and later deported to CECOT.
Both men described being beaten, forced into cramped cells, denied adequate food and medical care, and subjected to constant lighting. Muñoz Pinto, a 27-year-old college student, said detainees were terrorized and physically abused, calling the prison “hell.”
According to CBS, international observers and human rights organizations have raised serious concerns about conditions at CECOT.
The United Nations has warned that the prison violates minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners, and a U.S. State Department report previously cited torture and life-threatening conditions in El Salvador’s prisons.
The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act — a law not used since World War II — to rapidly deport some Venezuelans, labeling them terrorists and violent gang members, while bypassing normal immigration proceedings.
Human Rights Watch found that nearly half of the 252 Venezuelans sent to CECOT had no criminal history, and only eight had been convicted of violent or potentially violent offenses.
ICE data reviewed by 60 Minutes largely confirmed those findings, though records were incomplete. Immigration attorneys and gang experts questioned the criteria used to identify gang members, noting that tattoos — which played a role in deportation decisions — are not a reliable indicator of Tren de Aragua membership.
Despite repeated requests, the Department of Homeland Security declined to provide full criminal records of the deported men, citing national security concerns.
The post International News: “You’re in hell”, Man speaks of life inside of El Salvador’s CECOT prison appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: For more than a decade, repression under Venezuela’s Maduro regime has forced roughly 8 million people to flee the country, nearly 1 million of them to the United States. As part of the largest U.S. immigration crackdown in recent history, hundreds of Venezuelans were deported last year to El Salvador, a country
The post International News: “You’re in hell”, Man speaks of life inside of El Salvador’s CECOT prison appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
