A man who was deported to the ‘worst prison on Earth’ has recalled the horrifying conditions of the maximum security prison in El Salvador.
In an attempt to crack down on gang violence, the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) officially opened in 2023 under President Nayib Bukele’s administration.
Located in Tecoluca, it is said to be one of the most secure facilities in the world with a 40,000-person capacity, and home to the country’s most dangerous criminals.
A security team monitors inmates 24/7, and with 19 towers surrounding the compound, it’s heavily protected.
Arturo Suarez was one of the 250 Venezuelan men sent to the El Salvador jail by the Trump administration to sweep gang members, including US citizens, from the streets.
Venezuelan Arturo Suarez had no criminal record when he was sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador (YouTube/Sky News)
The 34-year-old, however, has never had a criminal conviction in the four countries he has lived in, his family have said.
Suarez, an aspiring singer, was filming a music video in North Carolina in March, when he was arrested by immigration agents.
Authorities alleged he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, citing Suarez’s 33 tattoos.
Arturo Suarez is freed from CECOT after nearly five months
Suarez’s family share a picture of him taken from inside CECOT (YouTube/Sky News)
After nearly five months, Suarez was freed via a prisoner swap with 10 American citizens and permanent residents jailed in Venezuela.
“We were constantly beaten,” he told Sky News. “We suffered physical, verbal, and psychological abuse.
“There wasn’t a day the wardens didn’t tell us that the only way we’d leave that place was if we were dead. In fact, the first words the head of the prison said to us after the first beating was ‘welcome to hell’.”
19 men sleep in one cell
Suarez has recalled what it was like living in the prison (YouTube/Sky News)
“We were sleeping 19 people to a cell,” he said, adding that ‘if we spoke loudly, they would take away our mattresses, if they found us bathing more than once a day, they’d take away the mattresses from us’.
“The punishment was severe. It was beatings and humiliations and they took away our food,” he explained.
“I remember we were exercising and a cellmate, very politely, asked the prison head if we could bathe a second time that day, since we were doing exercise.
“His words were ‘that’s your problem, it’s not my problem if you exercise’. We were also made to eat with our hands.
“They tried to take our humanity away from us. They tried to make us lose everything.”
Suarez is currently being supported by his family in Venezuela, as his wife, Nathali, and their 10-month-old daughter, Nahiara, live in Chile.
