Article information- Author, Leire Ventas
- Role, BBC World Service
- Reporting from El Salvador
11 February 2024
Hundreds of eyes dey look us. Di prisoners shave dia heads, dressed in pure white wit heavy tattoo. Di prisoners know say dem dey look dem and dem return di look too from di oda side of di bar.
We dey Cecot - the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo - one maximum security prison President Nayib Bukele goment bin build for “high-ranking” members of El Salvador main gangs.
A big project wey dem build for di middle of nowhere, and e dey symbolise Bukele controversial security policy.
Di mega-jail dey described as “black hole of human rights” by pipo. Na like a "concrete and steel pit wia calculation to dispose of pipo dey without formally applying di death penalty", for di words of Miguel Sarre, a former member of di United Nations Subcommittee for di Prevention of Torture.
But na also a major reason for Bukele huge popularity for a nation wey notorious gangs don make to bleed dry- Mara Salvatrucha, Barrio 18, Los Revolucionarios and Los Sureños.
“Na di psychopaths, di terrorists, di murderers wey don make our kontri mourn be dis,” di director of di centre, wey no want make we write im name but allow us film am, bin announce.
Im go be our guide during di carefully choreographed visit to di cells.
"No look dem for eyes," im warn us.
Na di middle of di night but e no mata, di artificial lights no dey ever go off. A little air bin dey enta through ceiling, wey dey give small relief from heat. di cells fit reach 35 degrees during di day and get no oda source of ventilation.
Dem don call di prison “di Alcatraz of Central America” before, but e no be like dat – everytin dey new, smooth, recently painted.
Na hooded guards dey keep watch ova di prison from above wit gun for dia hand.
Below, di prisoners climb onto di four-storey bunks wia dem dey sleep. Without any mattress or sheet dem go lie on ordinary metal and eat rice and beans, hard-boiled eggs or pasta wit dia hands.
“Any utensil fit be a deadly weapon,” di director say.
Nothing else dey dia between di three cement walls, except two sinks to wash and two toilets wey dem fit use for front of everyone.
And dem no get anytin else to do but watch time go by.
Inmates only get to leave di cells for 30 minutes a day make dem go exercise - using only di weight of dia own body - for di central corridor of Block 3, wey we journalists dey inspect.
E get seven oda units like dis, independent prisons wey dey within di big complex wey dey cover wetin big like di size of seven football stadiums, wey dey surrounded by two electrified fences and two reinforced concrete walls, and guarded by 19 towers.
E no dey clear weda Cecot prisoners bin dey newly detained or transferred from oda jails, or exactly why dem select dem for dis facility.
Or even how many prisoners really dey dis prison wey goment tok say e fit hold up to 40,000. And how many dem dey expect to transfer?
Despite months of research, BBC neva get any satisfactory ansa to dis questions.
We ask di director directly, and im respond: "We no fit provide dat information."
"Wetin be di maximum capacity of each cell?" we ask again.
“Wia you go fit put 10 pipo, you go fit put 20 pipo,” di director silently tok. Behind im anti-Covid mask, I fit see say e smile.
A kind of lesson
Since e open on 31 January 2023, di BBC don bin dey repeatedly request access to di megaprison.
Di invitation bin finally arrive on 6 February through a WhatsApp message from di Presidency international media press officer: “We dey go Cecot tonight.” Dem give us di meeting point and time just only half an hour before we suppose leave.
Two days don pass since Bukele declare imself re-elected wit 85% of di votes, claiming say im party bin win almost all di seats for di Legislative Assembly before di polling stations even begin count di ballots.
“Dis go be di first time wey only a single party go exist for a kontri wey get a full democratic system. Di entire opposition don dey defeated. El Salvador don make history again dis day,” im cry from di balcony of di National Palace on election day afternoon.
Yet as I dey write dis (five days afta di election), El Salvador still neva know final results due to plenti failures in di vote counting and recording system and doubts about how dem no manage di ballot papers well.
Nobody dey question Bukele presidential victory; attention don dey focused on di fight for di 60 seats for di Legislative Assembly, wey be say dia kontrol dey crucial for President Bukele programme.
As im claim victory, Bukele congratulate imself on di security achievements of im first term and attack all im opposition for di front of a cheering crowd in di central square of San Salvador, di capital.
"We go from being di most dangerous country for di world to being di safest country for di entire Western Hemisphere, di safest country for di entire American continent, and wetin dem tok? ‘Na human rights violation," im begin.
"Whose human rights? No be honest pipo. Maybe we bin prioritise di rights of honest pipo ova di rights of criminals, na wetin we do be dat," im continue.
Di tour wey various international media reporters go find demsef on two days later fit be di continuation of dis argument.
Our destination na di prison wey be di emblem of Bukele security policy. Na a "state of exception" - an emergency measure wey dey grant wicked powers to di police and military - wey don dey in force for two years.
Around 70,000 pipo don dey detained under dis measure, and El Salvador don get di highest rate of imprisonment for di world.
Salvadorans and international human rights organisations claim say many thousands of dem no get any link to gang crime. Odas dey forced to join hand wit di gangs, either as lookouts or to hide guns or drugs for dem, out of fear of dia lives.
Cristosal wey be di primary human rights organisation for di Central American kontri, don document torture cases and more dan 150 deaths in state custody during di "state of exception".
For one report in December, Amnesty International criticise di "gradual replacement of gang violence wit state violence".
No external institutions or NGOs dey visit di prison, di director tell us, but im assure us say di prison dey comply wit international standards.
Security at all costs
Once we don pass through security - pat-downs, questions about tattoos and one X-ray machine wey fit expose even your intestines on a screen - dem take us go meet some prisoners.
Bukele declare war on di gangs wit methods wey don earn am popularity, but also draw serious questions on human rights violations, and di director wan make us come face-to-face wit di enemy foot soldiers.
Di guards take five pre-selected individuals from dia cells, but not before placing shackles around dia wrists and ankles. As dem dey powerless, dey face di wall.
Dem no allow dem to tok.
"Come here. Turn around, please. Take off your shirt." im introduce us to di first prisoner: Miguel Antonio Díaz Saravia, alias “Castor”, one “hitman for di Mara Salvatrucha”, dem tell us.
For 2022, dem sentence am to 269 years in prison for kidnapping, torturing and murdering (along wit oda gang members) four soldiers for October 2016.
Marvin Mario Parada, wey dey convicted of di 2012 femicide of Alison Renderos, one 16-year-old schoolgirl and freestyle wrestler, also show us im tattoo.
“I remember how dem find her scattered body for one canal for San Vicente,” one Salvadoran photographer wey sit next to me on our return to di capital later tell me.
“I cover di removal of di deadi body and I see how di coroner place di pieces ontop table,” di conversation continue, wit anoda photojournalist.
Di next hour for di road become review of di catalogue of horrors and most terrible crimes of di gangs, such as di 17 passengers of one minibus wey dem burn alive for 2010.
“I also spend years without being able to visit my uncle, wey dey live for di same neighbourhood,” di photographer continue, as im dey refer to di invisible borders wey don become di domains of rival gangs for decades.
“If you go down dia, you no go come back.”
I don hear similar stories for street markets and poorer neighbourhoods, inside city hotels and for beach, in di days before di 4 February elections.
E get comments wey dey in support of di state of emergency too, wey suggest wetin all di polls also predict: victory for Bukele for di election.
Afta living for decades wit extortion wey dey di doorstep and violence around di corner, most Salvadorans wey I follow tok dey willing to pay Bukele price for security.
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