In a succinct message to the former First Lady of the United States Hillary Clintonthe Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele defended on Tuesday the massive prison that became a key part of deportations from the US under Donald Trump after receiving criticism for it alleged human rights violations.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) is a high-security facility that Bukele praises as part of his efforts to root out gangs in the Central American country.
The American broadcaster CBS News had planned to broadcast an investigation into alleged abuses in Cecot on its emblematic program “60 Minutes” on Sunday, but it was withdrawn at the last minute, resulting in this Accusations of censorship and political interference.
Bukele responded on Tuesday to complaints about prison conditions, saying that “El Salvador is ready to fully cooperate if they are convinced that torture is being practiced in Cecot” by releasing the entire prison population to any country willing to accept them.
“The only condition is simple: they must be all of them,” emphasized Bukele in the publication on social networks, specifying that he was referring to “all gang leaders and all so-called political prisoners.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
If you are convinced that torture is taking place in CECOT, El Salvador is ready to cooperate fully.
We stand ready to release our entire prison population (including all gang leaders and all those designated as “political prisoners”)… https://t.co/GKHMUgeZeO
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) December 23, 2025
Bukele responded in this way to the former North American Secretary of State, the Democrat Hillary Clinton, who on Monday called Cecot prison “brutal.” in a social media post.
“Are you curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry and Wilmer tell firsthand how the Trump administration labeled them gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal Salvadoran prison,” Clinton wrote in the post, in which she also shared an 11-minute video from the PBS Frontline documentary titled “Surviving Cecot.”
According to the video report shared, the Venezuelans recount how they were arrested in the United States and allegedly ill-treated when they arrived in El Salvador and were transferred to CECOT.
Andry Blanco assured Bonilla in the video they received Beatings from the guards and that “the handcuffs were so tight that they caused injuries to our ankles, many even shedding blood because we had cut ourselves with the same handcuffs.”
Cecot has also been at the center of a major legal battle in the United States since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelans and other migrants there despite a court order mandating their return to the United States.
Several deportees who were later released denounced this repeated abuses at the facility, complaints supported by human rights organizations.
According to human rights group Socorro Jurídico Humanitario, 454 Salvadorans have died in prison since Bukele’s offensive against gangs began.
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