Since 2022, the government of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador has enforced a state of exception, suspending constitutional guarantees and carrying out mass incarcerations, often without evidence or fair trials.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) embodies this authoritarian approach. Amnesty International (…) warned of the dangers of CECOT. “Reports point to extreme overcrowding, insufficient access to medical care, and widespread mistreatment amounting to cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts. In addition, Salvadoran organizations have reported over 300 deaths in state custody, some showing clear signs of violence.”
CECOT’s staging — men crammed together, heads shaved, shirtless, shackled — is designed not only to display control but also to appeal to a public hungry for order, at the expense of human dignity. Punitive aesthetics go viral: violence is showcased as a sign of efficiency. Justice retreats, replaced by propaganda, where imprisoned bodies are displayed as trophies. The message is clear: instill fear, reassure a political base, assert brutal authority. These are not accidents — they are deliberate gestures, where cruelty becomes a language of state power.
The case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a legal U.S. resident illegally deported to El Salvador and held at CECOT despite a court ruling ordering his release, illustrates blatant disregard for the rule of law. The visit by Republican members of Congress, followed by the denial of access to Democratic Senator Van Hollen, reveals a broader trend: this prison is no longer just a national tool of repression — it has become a partisan symbol. The Republicans’ visit was not aimed at impartial human rights assessment, but at signaling symbolic loyalty to Donald Trump. Posing in this brutal facility, alongside an authoritarian regime, sends a message: order, force, and repression are not only accepted — they are celebrated. It is a political statement set against a backdrop of institutional violence.
American lawmakers are crossing borders to pose in a brutal prison, solely to prove their loyalty to the President of the United States. How far this could go is unknown — and that’s precisely what’s so alarming.
The Handbasket
The Handbasket
100% independent journalism by Marisa Kabas
