EL SALVADOR | Dentro del CECOT, la cárcel de pandilleros de Bukele | EL PAÍS

Report on CECOT — El Salvador’s “terrorism detention center” for gang members

CECOT is presented as a high-security detention complex built to hold gang members for decades.

Purpose and design

CECOT is described as a high-security facility designed to detain gang members under a maximum-security regime. Key details include:

• The complex covers 34 blocks, organized into independently equipped modules.
• Each module has its own emergency systems.
• Security installations are said to meet international standards and to be capable of sustained maximum-security operation.

Inmate example and crimes

The report highlights one inmate to illustrate the type of detainees held at CECOT:

• Miguel Antonio — identified as an active member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
• Convicted for his role in the October 2016 kidnapping, torture and murder of four members of the Armed Forces.
• Received a 269-year prison sentence.

Daily life and conditions

Daily life inside CECOT is portrayed as highly restrictive, with limited services and almost no recreation:

• Meals: inmates receive three meals a day — breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  • Menus are minimal and repetitive, typically beans, rice and a hard‑boiled egg, with occasional pasta or other rice variations.
  • No special food treatments are provided.
  • Meals are often eaten inside the cells.
• Recreation: effectively nonexistent.
  • Prisoners are not given free recreation time.
  • They receive only a couple of minutes for general-program activities.

Presenters / contributors

• EL PAÍS (producer)
• Unnamed narrator/reporter (voiceover)
• Miguel Antonio (inmate, interviewee)