US EditionReport Documents Torture of Venezuelan Deportees in El Salvador Prison
Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report 252 Venezuelan deportees faced systematic torture and abuse in El Salvador's CECOT prison; many had no criminal record, U.S. funding implicated.
- An 81‑page investigation by Human Rights Watch and Cristosal documents torture and enforced disappearance of 252 Venezuelan deportees at El Salvador's Center for Terrorism Confinement .
- The Trump administration deported more than 250 men in mid‑March under the Alien Enemies Act, with the report citing US $8 million in funding to El Salvador.
- Human Rights Watch and Cristosal documented 130 confirmed transfers to CECOT and interviewed 150 people, including 40 former detainees, corroborating testimonies.
- Human Rights Watch and Cristosal called on the U.S. government to halt deportations to El Salvador, rescind the March 2025 proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, and urged Salvadoran authorities to investigate abuses and permit oversight.
- On July 18, a prisoner exchange repatriated more than 250 Venezuelan migrants while some returnees reported visits from Venezuelan intelligence agents, raising protection concerns.
70 Articles
70 Articles
Deportees in El Salvador were tortured: report
Venezuelan nationals deported to El Salvador by the US government earlier this year were tortured and ill-treated, advocacy groups reported Nov. 12. According to an 81-page report jointly released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, a Salvadoran advocacy organization, members of a group of 252 Venezuelan deportees sent to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) were subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and i…
The Independent
The Independent (US)Detainees deported by Trump to El Salvador tell of harrowing prison abuse and torture
The Trump administration deported dozens of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador earlier this year as part of the US’s migration crackdown
America’s Outsourced Cruelty: Venezuelans Tortured in El Salvador’s Prison
from 21st Century Wire: When a U.S. government jet carrying 252 Venezuelan migrants landed in El Salvador last March, the men were told by a prison warden, “You have arrived in hell.” They weren’t exaggerating… According to a searing 81-page investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, the deportees, many with no criminal record, were subjected to […]
"You have arrived in hell. This is where you will spend your last days." Those were the words that 39-year-old Juan from Caracas was greeted with by the director of a notorious prison in El Salvador. There, he and other inmates were to be held...
The government of Donald Trump sent them to El Salvador without proving any crimes, and the government of Nayib Bukele took care to subdue them under the pretext that they were “terrorists” who deserved to be mistreated, although their main fault was to be arrested in the United States under irregular immigration status.During March and April 2025, the Trump administration sent 252 Venezuelan migrants to the recognized (and criticized) prison in…
A report by a Central American NGO describes in grim detail how authorities at El Salvador's maximum security prison treated 252 Venezuelan migrants.
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