The Salvadoran government handed over early Friday morning 2,000 alleged gang members to a new prison according to the president, it can accommodate about 40,000 people. Naib Bukele.

“Today at dawn, in one operation, we transferred the first 2,000 gang members to Terrorism Deterrence Center (CECOT),” the president wrote on his social media.

He added: “This will be your new home.where they will live for decades, mixed, not being able to cause more harm to the population“.

Today at dawn, in one operation, we transferred the first 2,000 gang members to the Terrorist Detention Center (CECOT).

This will be their new home, where they will live for decades, mixed up, unable to harm the population anymore.

We continue…#GuerraContraPandillas pic.twitter.com/9VvsUBvoHC

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbule) February 24, 2023

Although the Government did not notify the transfers, dozens of relatives they are mobilized in La Esperanza prison, known as Marion, in San Salvador. How Found EFEabout 150 people were concentrated in this place and several buses left the paddock.

Bukele opened CECOT at the end of January, and Minister of Public Works Romeo Rodriguez told the President that the prison would “become the largest prison in all of America” ​​and that “It would be impossible for the prisoner to get out” housing, which has 23 hectares of construction.

The construction of this prison took place between opposition criticism that he pointed to a lack of transparency, largely due to the ruling party-dominated Legislative Assembly’s approval of a law to bypass conventional scrutiny of public works.

In early February, Amnesty International (AI) expressed its concern about this new prison in El Salvador and expressed “deep concern” given that “the construction of this new prison could mean the continuation and escalation of these violations.”

Under the state of emergency imposed in March last year following an escalation in killings, according to official figures, over 64,000 people were detainedwhom the government accuses of being gang members, and of whom more than 3,300 have been released.

Salvadoran humanitarian organizations and the Directorate for the Protection of Human Rights (PDDH) received over 7900 abuse complaintsmost due to arbitrary detentions.

Authorities attribute the decline in homicides to the measure and the Territorial Control Plan, which was 496 in 2022, down 57% from 2021, according to official figures.

EFE