A report by Human Rights Watch and the Central American human rights organization Cristosar alleges that dozens of Venezuelans forcibly returned from the United States to prisons in El Salvador earlier this year were subjected to torture and other serious abuses, including sexual violence.
The report released Wednesday includes interviews with 40 of the 252 Venezuelans sent to the notorious terrorist confinement center (Secot). They say some have been beaten by guards and taken to solitary confinement as punishment for protesting, while others have been driven to the brink of suicide.
The report accuses El Salvador’s prison system of systematic human rights abuses and accuses the Trump administration of complicity in torture, enforced disappearances, and other human rights abuses.
In response to a CNN investigation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the administration’s decision to send migrants to Sekot.
“At the direction of President (Donald) Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has expelled approximately 300 Torren de Aragua and MS-13 terrorists to the Confinement Center for Terrorism (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, where they no longer pose a threat to the American public,” a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
CNN has also reached out to the Salvadoran Presidential Office and the Salvadoran General Directorate of Prisons for comment. El Salvador’s government has previously said it respects the human rights of people in detention “regardless of their nationality” and that the country’s prison system meets standards of safety and order.
“The nightmare started the moment they took me off the plane,” the report quotes Gonzalo, 26, from Zulia, Venezuela, as saying. Gonzalo claims the migrants were beaten upon landing in El Salvador and that the abuse continued after they were transferred to Secot.
A prison official reportedly told them, “You guys have come to hell.”
He and others interviewed by HRW and Christosal claimed that guards regularly assaulted them with kicks, punches and batons during daily cell searches.
According to the report, three of those interviewed said they had been sexually assaulted.
Some prisoners reported being humiliated by guards who told them that they would not make it out alive, that no one knew they were there, and that their families had abandoned them.
Several inmates reported feeling suicidal, and at least one said he had attempted suicide.
“I fell into depression. I thought I was better off and wanted to commit suicide. In the end, the only thing that gave me strength was God… and my family, my wife, daughter, and mother,” Nelson, another detainee, said in the report.
Many of the report’s findings echo what several former detainees told CNN in late July, days after they were released from Secot and sent back to Venezuela.
“Welcome to the hell of Secot,” Venezuelan makeup artist Andry Hernández recalled in an interview with CNN about arriving at the Salvadoran prison.
Gerse Reyes, Jose Mora and Rafael Martinez all told CNN that they were often beaten by guards for disobeying the prison’s strict rules or for what appeared to be unfair reasons. They also accused Salvadoran prison authorities of denying them basic human rights, including access to legal counsel and decent living conditions.
Reyes said he was taking showers on hot days to keep cool at times he wasn’t allowed. He said the guards grabbed him, entered his cell, beat him and sent him to a small isolated cell as punishment.
Martinez claimed that he was once punished for sticking his head into the bars of his cell when he felt unwell. He was taken to another cell, where he was beaten by about eight guards, resulting in a broken right arm.
“(The guards) tortured us physically and mentally,” Mora said.
The men also talked about going on strike to demand basic rights, including the right to communicate with the outside world. However, their protest was reportedly met with a violent reaction from security personnel.
“When we protested, they shot us at close range with rubber bullets into our cells,” Mora told CNN. “We were like trapped chickens or rats…and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
The Trump administration accused the deportees of having ties to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua, without evidence.
Human Rights Watch and Cristosar argued in a report that about half of the Venezuelans sent to Secot had no criminal record, and only 3% had been convicted of violent or potentially violent crimes in the United States.
In a response to CNN, DHS claimed that the approximately 300 detainees were members of the Torren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs, claiming that these groups are “some of the most violent and ruthless terrorist organizations on the planet” and that they “commit rape, maiming, and murder for sport.”
Reyes, Mora and Martinez said they were falsely accused by U.S. authorities of belonging to the Torren de Aragua gang and deported from the United States despite their denials.
Records show Martinez was charged with robbery in the United States, pleaded guilty and was released on bail before being arrested and sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Meanwhile, Mora was imprisoned in Venezuela on drug-related charges and has completed his sentence. According to official records, he received a traffic violation in the United States.
CNN confirmed that Reyes has no criminal record in his home country.
