El Salvador on Monday, the 3rd of February, offered to house “dangerous criminals”, including those with US citizenship, in its giant prison, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after lengthy talks with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his first overseas visit as top US diplomat, reports the BBC.
Bukele, who has won voters’ approval for his hardline approach against gangs but has been sharply criticised by human rights groups, said he had offered the US “the possibility of outsourcing part of the prison system”.
Rubio said the US was “profoundly grateful” to Bukele, adding that “no country has ever made such an offer of friendship”.
“He has offered to house in his prisons dangerous American criminals who are incarcerated in our country, including those with US citizenship and legal residency,” Rubio told reporters.
Referring to two of the region’s most notorious transnational crime gangs, Rubio added that El Salvador would also take in deported migrants and “criminals of any nationality”.
Bukele later confirmed this offer on X, clarifying that “we are only willing to take convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for payment”.
He added that “the fee would be relatively small for the US, but significant for us, making our entire prison sustainable”.
Since taking office in 2019, Bukele has made fighting crime a priority of his government.
The newly built maximum security prison he referred to, CECOT (Centre for the Incarceration of Terrorism), is key to incarcerating and punishing the most violent gang members.
The government marked the opening of the prison, which it claims can hold up to 40 000 prisoners, by releasing photos and videos of prisoners stripped to the waist and tattooed, being frogwalked through the prison corridors.
Rights groups have criticised the treatment of prisoners at CECOT, where dozens of prisoners are held in windowless cells. However, the majority of Salvadorans support Bukele’s fight against crime saying they finally feel safe. However, some relatives of the prisoners claim that innocent people have been arrested.
Amnesty International has criticised the “gradual replacement of gang violence by state violence” in the country, but Bukele rejects this, pointing out that he was re-elected with 84% of the vote.
El Salvador was the second stop on Secretary Rubio’s first foreign tour as the top US diplomat.
The first stop was Panama, where he demanded that Panama “immediately make changes” to eliminate what he called China’s “influence and control” over the Panama Canal.
On Tuesday, he is scheduled to meet with officials in Costa Rica and Guatemala, focusing on migration as well as reducing China’s influence in the region.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has focused on speeding up the deportation of illegal migrants, promising “massive deportations”.