Petro calls the mega-prison where Bukele transferred gang members in El Salvador “concentration camps”

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, assured on Wednesday that the maximum security prison to which the Government of El Salvador transferred 2,000 gang members last week is really a “concentration camp.” -I can’t get into other countries- from the concentration camp in El Salvador, full of young people, thousands and thousands, imprisoned that gives one the chills”, said the Colombian president during a speech. The images of the prisoners, shirtless , with the characteristic tattoos of the gangs, handcuffed, crouched and piled up, covered the news around the world, even opening a debate on the humanitarian conditions of the prisoners. Petro also criticized his counterpart, Nayib Bukele, maintaining that this “He feels proud for having reduced the homicide rate by subjugating the gangs that work in those prisons” which Petro has called “Dantesque”. He follows gang members as they are processed upon arrival after 2,000 gang members were transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Confinement Center, according to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, in Tecoluca. Photo: Reuters (PRESS SECRETARY OF THE PRESIDENT/) The Colombian leader added that Bogotá has achieved “the same” as El Salvador, in terms of the homicide rate, despite the fact that he stated that “the press is not going to recognize it ”. “We also managed to reduce the rate of homicides, crime, and violence, but not from prisons, but from universities, schools, spaces for dialogue, spaces for poor people to stop being poor,” he said. Bukele was quick to respond, pointing out on his Twitter account that “the results weigh more than rhetoric,” adding that he wants “Colombia to actually manage to lower homicide rates,” just as “Salvadorans have achieved.” Given this, Petro replied: “Well, Nayib, we went from 90 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993 in Bogotá to 13 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. We did not build prisons, but universities. It is good to compare experiences. I propose an international forum.” The Salvadoran president inaugurated a prison in February with a capacity of up to 40,000 prisoners, all in the midst of the open war against gangs, which began on March 27, 2022 in an effort to combat a wave of homicides Mr. @petrogustavo, The results weigh more than the rhetoric. I hope that Colombia actually manages to lower the homicide rates, as we Salvadorans have achieved. God bless you. pic.twitter.com/3AV7Ed6MUq— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 1, 2023 The policy, which has established a regime of exception extended a dozen times, has been criticized by human rights organizations and international organizations such as the Commission Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). According to official figures, cited by the Forbes Portal, under the emergency regime, approved a year ago after an escalation of murders, more than 64,000 people have been detained, whom the The Salvadoran government accuses them of being gang members and of those that have been released, more than 3,300. Well, Nayib @nayibbuke, we went from 90 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993 in Bogotá to 13 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. We did not build prisons but universities. It is good to compare experiences. I propose an international forum.https://t.co/UdBWG44aWT— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 1, 2023Salvadoran humanitarian organizations and the Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH) have received more than 7,900 complaints of abuses, the majority for arbitrary detentions. “I believe that there are people who like that, undoubtedly, to see the youth in prisons and believe that this is security and popularity skyrockets, undoubtedly”, considered Petro. In this same sense, Petro published a survey of the firm on his networks Costa Rican CID Gallup where Bukele is the leader with the highest favorable opinion, with 92%, and he ranks seventh with 57%, reported Forbes.