Colombia compares mega prison in El Salvador to ‘concentration camp’

Colombia compares mega prison in El Salvador to ‘concentration camp’

“It gives one chills,” says Colombian President Gustavo Petro of recent high-security jail constructed by his El Salvador counterpart Nayib Bukele in “war against gangs.”

According to polls, 95 percent of the population supports this security strategy, which has lowered the homicide rate in the country.
According to polls, 95 % of the inhabitants helps this safety technique, which has lowered the murder fee within the nation.
(AFP Archive)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has lashed out at his counterpart in El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for having constructed a brand new high-security jail in Tecoluca that has obtained 2,000 suspected gang members.

At an occasion at a college on Wednesday, Petro in contrast the jail to a “concentration camp.”

“On social media, you can see the concentration camp in El Salvador full of young people, thousands and thousands in prison. It gives one chills,” he mentioned.

On Friday, Bukele shared movies exhibiting barefoot tattooed males with shaved heads in shackles who had been being pressured to stroll with their our bodies bent over into the jail.

Two thousand suspected gang members had been moved to the ability, the biggest jail in Latin America.

“This will be their new house, where they will live for decades, all mixed, unable to do any more harm to the population,” Bukele wrote on Twitter.

The jail, known as the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, was constructed to carry 40,000 prisoners focused in Bukele’s “war against gangs,” a transfer that has been strongly criticised by human rights organisations which say the arrests represent a critical violation of human rights.

“Salvadoran security forces have battered vulnerable communities with widespread human rights violations in the name of public safety,” mentioned Juanita Goebertus, the director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division.

READ MORE:
First 2000 inmates moved to El Salvador’s new gangster jail

‘We achieved similar factor from colleges’

The conflict towards members of the so-called Maras started on March 27 final 12 months, when Bukele’s authorities declared a state of emergency after three days of violence left 87 lifeless, which the president blamed on the gang often known as MS-13.

According to polls, 95 % of the inhabitants helps this safety technique, which has lowered the murder fee within the nation.

But Petro condemned Bukele’s reputation enhance.

“The president of El Salvador is proud because he reduced the homicide rate by subduing the gangs that today are in those prisons,” he mentioned.

“We achieved the same thing. We managed to reduce the homicide and violence rate, not from prisons but from schools and universities,” he added.

READ MORE: NGOs report ‘widespread’ violations in El Salvador’s conflict towards gangs

Source: AA

Source: www.trtworld.com