El Salvador: New mega-detention center opened

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Security forces at Tecoluca Detention Center

Photo:

gobierno de El Salvador HANDOUT/EPA

In El Salvador, gang members are to be accommodated in a new, large prison complex.

President Nayib Bukele presented the completed systems during a tour in a video that was broadcast nationwide on television in the Central American country.

Up to 40,000 prisoners are to be locked up there from an as yet unspecified date.

Conservative Bukele wrote on Twitter that the detention facility in Tecoluca, around 75 kilometers southeast of the capital San Salvador, is an essential factor in winning the fight against the violent gangs completely.

According to the government, the prison occupies a total area of ​​165 hectares in the center of the country.

Around 850 soldiers and police officers are said to monitor it.

A year of state of emergency

The state of emergency has been in force in the country with six million inhabitants for almost a year.

A number of fundamental rights have been restricted.

The government wants to curb the violence of the criminal gangs.

Since then, more than 62,000 suspected gang members have been arrested, and the murder rate has recently fallen significantly.

However, human rights activists speak of arbitrary arrests.

With a prison rate of 605 per 100,000 people, El Salvador already has more inmates than any other country, according to the World Prison Brief database.

Almost 40,000 people are in prison.

atb/dpa/Reuters