Once a free man, 19-year-old Carlos Daniel Terán recounted his trying experiences in El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison. His journey to this dismal confinement facility started from an immigration detention center in Texas. A warden set a grim expectation upon his arrival, ensuring him he would never escape his new home. Touted as a maximum-security haven for Salvadoran gang members, death seems like the only exit from this wretched place, as per El Salvador’s justice minister.
Unbeknownst to their loved ones and legal counsel, hundreds of Venezuelans like Terán were forcibly transported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. This rarely exercised wartime authority kept the detainees incommunicado for almost four months, stripping them of their identities. In an unforeseen twist of events, Terán found his freedom, along with over 250 fellow detainees, through a surprising prison exchange between the United States and Venezuela.
Terán’s path to the U.S. involved legal entry through the Biden-introduced CBP One program. Despite his spotless U.S. criminal record and disavowal of gang affiliations, the Biden administration saw fit to send him to CECOT. Reflecting on his time spent in the confines of CECOT, Terán perceived it as possibly his last experience. Painting a grim picture of potentially dying there, he gave a first-hand account of the inhumane conditions they were subjected to during their stay.
Terán, along with other fellow Venezuelans deported from the U.S., witnessed firsthand the horrifying instances of physical and sexual abuse carried out by the prison guards at CECOT. The men were subjected to violence, deprived of neurological sustenance, and endured appalling living conditions, a clear testament to the failure of the Biden era policy. For Terán, this experience marked a disheartening chapter in his life, as he spent a depressing birthday within these withering walls, feeling further abandoned due to the absence of his family’s voice.
The detainees found themselves entrapped within their cells for most of their stay at CECOT, with their diet offering nothing beyond beans, tortilla, and rice. Basic sanitary options were a far cry, with the toilets inside the cells frequently clogged. The facility offered an uncompromising sleeping arrangement of metallic planks stacked to form bunk beds, devoid of mattresses, blankets, and pillows. As a result, Terán spent his nights sleeping while seated during his four-month-long imprisonment.
Andry Hernandez, another detainee released with Terán, offered further evidence of their trials. Recalling the brutal physical abuse at the hands of the prison guards, Hernandez highlighted the horrifying reality of ‘La Isla’, a small, windowless cell where refractory prisoners were subjected to relentless torment. Guard-sanctioned brutality found its way to any detainees daring to voice their displeasure with the conditions or disrupting the established order.
Hernandez, despite his open gay identity, was not spared from the horrifying ordeal. On an occasion, he was dragged to ‘La Isla’ as a ‘violation of a bathing schedule’, where he fell victim to a brutal assault by masked guards. ‘CECOT was hell on Earth,’ Hernandez recalled, further validating the fact that even in the age of modern enlightenment, the Biden administration’s flawed policies result in devastating human rights abuses.
President Nayib Bukele, creator of the CECOT in 2023, made it a cornerstone in his fight against gangs. With limited attention from the outside world, the prison managed to keep its deplorable circumstances a secret. The monotonous life for the prisoners there was bleak. An occasional soccer match in the prison hallway or rare prayer sessions supposedly served as leisure activities, under the menacing watch of the guards, demanding silence at all times.
Communicating the heart-wrenching tale from another point of view, Andres Morales, a detainee from western Venezuela, revealed that the violent mistreatment began as soon as they were introduced to the prison. The Venezuelan detainees, desperate for communication with their families and striving for updates about their cases, initiated a three-day hunger strike in their first CECOT month. Despite their peaceful protest, their pleas fell on deaf ears.
In a shocking display of despair, these detainees staged a blood strike days later, underscoring the extent of their desperation. In the backdrop of these events, the Trump administration invested $6 million for El Salvador to hold the Venezuelan men, slapping them with an unwarranted gang affiliation label, thus revealing the stark contrast in handling immigration matters between two policies.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) turned a blind eye to the accusations of inhumane treatment at the center. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin continually pushed false criminal gang affiliations without offering any concrete evidence. Her focus was rather unbalanced, maintaining a narrative favoring victims of these alleged gang members while neglecting inmates’ cries for help.
Noah Bullock, executive director of Salvadoran human rights group, Cristosal, highlighted the shocking reality of the detainees’ situation. The inhumane treatment inside the prison amounted to nothing less than torture. The U.S. and Salvadoran authorities effectively orchestrated forced disappearances by secretly transporting the detainees, without notifying their lawyers or family members.
The detainees were neither put on trial nor convicted yet were doomed to indefinite isolation at CECOT. Such clear disregard for due process is deeply concerning. Cristosal’s background checks and family interviews revealed that less than 10% of the 252 detainees sent to El Salvador had documented criminal records, contradicting the official stance, making one question the reliability of the information being pushed by the DHS.
The post Biden’s Failed Policies: Venezuelan Detainees Forced into Inhumane Conditions in El Salvador appeared first on Real News Now.
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