Above photo: The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. EFE.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported that the 252 Venezuelans previously held at the CECOT in El Salvador were systematically subjected to cruel human rights violations, including unlawful deprivation of liberty, daily torture, prolonged isolation without sunlight or ventilation, being shot with pellets, receiving rotten food and unsafe water, being denied medical care, and numerous due process violations.
During a media appearance on Monday, July 21, the head of the Public Ministry announced the opening of a formal investigation, through three designated prosecutors, into Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Public Security Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, and Director General of Penitentiary Centers and Deputy Minister of Justice and Public Security Osiris Luna Mesa.
He urged the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and relevant bodies around the world to denounce these three individuals and others who are the perpetrators of this systematic and ongoing torture.
William Saab accused Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele of personally ordering attacks on his fellow Salvadorans who remain kidnapped and disappeared in the megaprison.
Bukele now becomes the worst killer in the Western Hemisphere, Attorney General Saab stated, citing a US media report accusing Bukele of leading Salvadoran gangs. He added that the 252 Venezuelans were brutally tortured around the clock and were victims of sexual abuse by security guards.
He explained that upon their arrival in Venezuela, a group of prosecutors and experts took statements from the rescued prisoners. Serious abuses at the CECOT were reported, such as frequent beatings and being shot with pellets when they complained about the abuse. Thanks to this work, there are now 123 officially documented complaints.
During the hearing, several video clips were presented in which the young men showed wounds from pellets or knives inflicted by security guards on their chests, backs, faces, testicles, and other areas of their bodies. One of them claimed that they were intimidated to prevent him from telling the Red Cross that they were victims of these attacks.
Thanks to the Venezuelan government’s extensive efforts, the Venezuelan migrants were repatriated from El Salvador last Friday, July 18. The complaints also report that many witnessed security guards using drugs while on duty. William Saab also reported that some of the Venezuelan hostages considered taking their own lives to avoid such brutal and unjustified punishments.
William Saab accused the institutions of the Salvadoran justice system of complicity in these abuses. He stated that the Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office sent a petition to the Salvadoran Supreme Court to protect the rights of the 252, which, 80 days later, issued a response that was described as completely unlawful and lacking the basic legal and professional grounds. In its response, the Salvadoran court and prosecutor’s office legitimized the kidnapping and abuse to which this group of Venezuelan migrants were systematically subjected.
“We hope that international organizations will stop being complicit,” stated William Saab.
