{"id":295091,"date":"2025-05-01T15:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/lost-in-the-death-realm-of-el-salvadors-prisons\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T15:45:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:45:06","slug":"lost-in-the-death-realm-of-el-salvadors-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/lost-in-the-death-realm-of-el-salvadors-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost in the \u2018Death Realm\u2019 of El Salvador\u2019s Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/01\/multimedia\/01int-elsalvador-prison-promo\/01int-elsalvador-prison-gjlf-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Lost in the \u2018Death Realm\u2019 of El Salvador\u2019s Prisons\" title=\"Lost in the \u2018Death Realm\u2019 of El Salvador\u2019s Prisons\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jos\u00e9 Alfredo Vega\u2019s parents said they were able to identify his body only because of a childhood scar. Otherwise, the corpse was swollen beyond recognition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe was OK when he left,\u201d said his father, Miguel \u00c1ngel Vega, recalling the night nearly three years ago when police officers barged into the family\u2019s home and took away his son. \u201cHe was healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, at 29, Jos\u00e9 Alfredo was dead in a morgue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Trump\u2019s decision to send to El Salvador hundreds of people he says are gang members has ignited outrage and approval in the United States. But most Salvadorans have barely registered their arrival and their absorption into the country\u2019s opaque penal system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Here in El Salvador, where tens of thousands of men have been swept up in mass arrests in recent years, the disappearance of men into prisons not to be heard from again is disturbingly familiar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since 2022, when President Nayib Bukele\u2019s government imposed a state of emergency to quell rampant gang violence, around 80,000 people have been incarcerated, more than tripling El Salvador\u2019s inmate population. Thousands of innocent people have been locked up with no legal recourse and no communication with their families, according to their relatives, former prisoners and rights groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hundreds of deaths have been documented inside El Salvador\u2019s prisons, with families also reporting torture and maiming. Still, Mr. Bukele and his security strategy remain incredibly popular. Polls <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/elsalvadorinenglish.com\/2024\/11\/27\/nine-out-of-10-salvadorans-support-president-bukeles-second-term-cid-gallup-survey-reveals\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">consistently show<\/a> that more than 80 percent of Salvadorans approve of the young leader, saying under his administration they regained a precious luxury: the ability to safely walk down their streets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBukele is doing everything right, we are all delighted,\u201d said Daniel Francisco de Le\u00f3n, a San Salvador resident. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole different mood here. They used to just rob, rob, rob.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Families of the imprisoned say that only they know what lies behind Mr. Bukele\u2019s security strategy and its seeming success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI would not tell a single country to do what they did here,\u201d said Mr. Vega, who identified his son\u2019s body this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Vega responded to the call from the morgue \u2014 it was the first he\u2019d heard of his son since his arrest in May 2022 \u2014 the bodies of four other prisoners lay nearby. His son, he was told, had died of sepsis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Salvadoran human rights group Cristosal has documented 378 prison deaths since 2022, though Cristosal\u2019s director, Noah Bullock, says the true number is likely much higher. The deaths, Mr. Bullock said, are the result of an \u201cintentional denial of access to basic necessities like food, water, health care, hygiene,\u201d in some cases combined with physical abuse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Andr\u00e9s Guzm\u00e1n Caballero, the government\u2019s human rights commissioner, rejected claims that prisoners were dying from intentional neglect or abuse, or at a higher rate than the civilian population, including from the effects of malnutrition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat\u2019s completely false,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Guzm\u00e1n Caballero could not provide an exact number of prisoner deaths but said that there is \u201cvery low\u201d mortality in the country\u2019s two dozen penitentiaries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">American lawyers for the migrants sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration and several members of the U.S. Congress have pressed officials for information on the men. The lawyers and family members say they have not heard from them since they were expelled in mid-March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The American and Salvadoran governments have refused to offer updates on their health or the conditions under which they are being held, other than to report that the most high profile of the men, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is in good health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the country\u2019s capital, San Salvador, street lamps adorned with the Salvadoran flag light up as the sun sets. People can now stay outdoors at night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI like to say that we actually liberated millions,\u201d Mr. Bukele told Mr. Trump last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Salvadorans say they agree. They can now go out when they please, play soccer, walk dogs. They are no longer shaken down by teenage gang members, asked to turn over food or property, or their daughters. Emergency rooms that once overflowed with gang victims are calm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou were like a little stray animal: there one day and gone the next,\u201d said Teresa Lemus, a street vendor. \u201cNow we\u2019re 100 percent safe. I can carry my cash in my bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Lemus\u2019s brother was among those imprisoned for more than a year amid the crackdown despite his disability, a spinal condition that left him reliant on leg braces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSooner or later, he\u2019ll be proved innocent,\u201d she recalled telling people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was right. But the letter exonerating her brother came too late, after he died this year in a prison called El Penalito, at 48. When she saw him in the morgue, he was emaciated. The explanation for his death, she said, was vague \u2014 depression, anemia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, Ms. Lemus does not blame Mr. Bukele.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m very clear that the president hasn\u2019t done me wrong in any way,\u201d she said. \u201cJust as he has hurt us in some ways, he has helped us in others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her brother, she is sure, would have said the same. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Such complexity can be found all over El Salvador, with people praising Mr. Bukele\u2019s drastic measures even as they disclose their personal toll.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Adonay Garc\u00eda dropped out at age 12 because of warring gangs at his school, he said. Now 19, he can safely ride a rented bike downtown. Yet at the peak of the mass arrests, he said, he was detained for a month, interrogated and struck by guards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI thought, \u2018I am never going to see my family again,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Garc\u00eda\u2019s older brother was arrested not long after, and is still imprisoned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While polls show Mr. Bukele remains popular, some say the high numbers are a sign that people do not feel they can voice what is in fact growing public concern over the state of emergency \u2014 known here as \u201cEl Regimen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou have a population that says, \u2018Sure, we support the president, but I would be afraid to tell you if I didn\u2019t,\u2019\u201d said Mr. Bullock, from the Cristosal human rights group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Betty, a San Salvador resident who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisal, concurred. \u201cThe regimen was an excellent move, but there are a lot of people who have been taken away unjustly and have died in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She went on: \u201cPeople are finally waking up and seeing things for what they really are. That little man is trying to play God.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those who have spoken out include the parents of the disappeared, who march through the capital carrying posters with their children\u2019s photos. Among them are Mr. Vega and his wife, Marta Gonz\u00e1lez, who just buried their youngest son. They have another son still in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly two decades ago, as the threat of gangs grew, they moved to a remote coastal village to keep their sons safe, Mr. Vega said. He worked at a shrimp cooperative, fished and did odd jobs. His sons eventually joined him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On weekends, he said, they played soccer with a rural police force sent by the government to keep the gangs away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then a new president took power. And new police officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jos\u00e9 Alberto was arrested, and the following morning as he was hauling in shrimp, his brother, Vidal Adalberto, was also taken into custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The police carried a list of names, their parents said, but as far as they know, neither son was ever charged or found to have gang connections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019ve spent our lives fleeing so our sons wouldn\u2019t get caught up in that,\u201d Mr. Vega said. \u201cWe came here to bring them up right, only for the government to kill them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the young men\u2019s arrests, their family has sold everything to afford the packages of food and supplies that are the only things people are permitted to deliver to prisoners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of those imprisoned under the state of emergency, only 8,000 people have been released, according to the government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One former prisoner, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared rearrest, said he would never forget his year in two prisons, from 2022 to 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a death realm,\u201d he said. \u201cThe realm of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His first stop was Izalco, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of the capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On arrival, the men were stripped to their underwear and forced to walk between rows of guards who hit them with clubs, he said. They were crammed three to a bunk, forced to split meager rations like watery beans or instant pasta. The man said he lost 30 pounds in a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ultimately, he said, he was placed with a group of \u201ccivilians without tattoos,\u201d people considered \u201ccollaborators, in theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then he was sent to a less restrictive prison facility north of San Salvador, known as Mariona. There, detainees could leave their cells, kick a ball and play dominoes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-15\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But beyond routine checks, including weigh-ins, there was no medical care, the man said. Many prisoners suffered from \u201ca kind of diarrhea I didn\u2019t know was possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prisoners\u2019 families sent packages, but guards removed things like oatmeal, cornflakes and cookies, the former inmate said, setting aside calorie-rich food for starving inmates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Guzm\u00e1n, the human rights commissioner, denied this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEveryone receives food and everyone is fine,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it comes to malnutrition, there is no problem. It\u2019s not a five-star hotel but everybody eats two, three times a day and they eat well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent morning, outside a prison in the inland city of Santa Ana, a man sitting in the back of a van held up his cuffed hands as the vehicle idled. He gestured toward his mouth, then held up his fingers to indicate how many days it had been since he had eaten: four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/01\/world\/americas\/el-salvador-prisons-disappearances.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jos\u00e9 Alfredo Vega\u2019s parents said they were able to identify his body only because of a childhood scar. Otherwise, the corpse was swollen beyond recognition. \u201cHe was OK when he left,\u201d said his father, Miguel \u00c1ngel Vega, recalling the night nearly three years ago when police officers barged into the family\u2019s home and took away [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/01\/multimedia\/01int-elsalvador-prison-promo\/01int-elsalvador-prison-gjlf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[173343,1860,5500,163575,28795,165768,3131,173344,17775,163599,20060,28796,52],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295093,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295091\/revisions\/295093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}