Bukele offers his megacárcel to Trump: What is at stake and how viable is that US prisoners be held in El Salvador?

The Salvadoran president, re -elected last year with 80% of votes, has been enemy of the enemy of the crime by his hard hand against gangs and the drastic decrease in violent murders during his management, achieved thanks to a controversial regime of Exception, imposed almost three years ago and that, according to organizations and independent media, has meant human rights violations. Bukele has turned prisons into symbols of their strength. Reintegration programs are not available for rapists and murderers.

The terrorism confinement center (CECOT), which is usually called megacárcel and is considered the largest in Latin America, has just completed two years of operation and is already a clear symbol of Bukele’s strategy. It is not surprising that the Salvadoran leader has offered Trump to be deported in that prison, with capacity for more than 40,000 inmates.

“If Bukele’s flagship security policy is the exception regime, the CECOT is the crown jewel of its security strategy. Bukele has opened that prison to international agencies, to YouTubers and influencers that arrive from several parts of the world to see the most dangerous criminals in Latin America. Paradoxically, those are the prisoners who live calmer, human rights violations are given against those who are not gang members and are in other prisons in the country, ”the Salvadoran independent journalist Fernando Romero tells El Comercio.

How viable is it?

Although Bukele tempts Washington, she faces several obstacles in the legal field. Rubio put it in these terms: “Obviously there are legal issues to consider. We have a constitution, we have all kinds of things, but it is a very generous offer. ”

The newspaper “The New York Times” explains that analysts are unlikely that a plan of these characteristics will be sustained in court, especially when it affects US citizens.

Where it is a safe victory is in public relations, because both leaders have agendas that prioritize security. For Bukele, it is not only an excellent business option, but it is an opportunity to consolidate as an important Trump ally in the region at a time when the US president has several skirmishes with his peers for his immigration management.

Romero points out that Bukele continues to use its media strategy quite well. For example, he points out that the reintegration programs accessed by prisoners have been given at least in the last four Salvadoran governments. “Much of what is seen in El Salvador today are not new policies, but policies that have been better advertised. Much already was done ten years or more, but Bukele is the first president who has set cameras to show it. He seeks to promote himself, sell his image out. ”

Beyond whether the US will send its prisoners to El Salvador, Bukele’s offer opens the door for other nations of the continent hit by insecurity want to send their most dangerous inmates to the small Central American state. Romero sees that unfeasible idea, because at some point the Cecot would see its capacity exceeded. “And this could only occur in the CECOT. Even what is known, it is the only jail that offers maximum security. The situation in the other criminal centers of El Salvador is quite opaque. ”