2024-08-30 03:57:48
President Nayib Bukele has taken very tough action against general crime in El Salvador and against “gang members” of so-called maras, adding to the shocking sentences in the past hours: Three members of the Mara Salvatrucha were punished with a punishment of 300 to 400 yearsThis includes the unusual figure of 1,029 years in prison, according to the Attorney General’s Office, underscoring the “They committed various crimes, mainly serious extortion and other acts of terrorism.”
Official reports say Jose Alfredo Canales sentenced 384 years in prisonin his case, “in addition to belonging to a terrorist organization, was also guilty of aggravated extortion and conspiracy to commit aggravated homicide,” while Eduardo Ramirez and Yoni Lobothey received 325 and 320 years in prison, In their cases, they were each found guilty of “extortion and irresponsible possession and handling of firearms”.
Canales, Ramirez and Lobo were indicted on the charges “Crimes committed in the eastern part of the country in 2017 and 2018”, The prosecutor’s office specified that the operation of the mafia to which the convicted members belonged “targets businessmen who must pay fees of up to $200 per month and threaten that their businesses will be robbed or destroyed.”
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The Bukelei government faces a number of international problems within the framework of a very harsh “regime of exceptions” that protects a ruthless prison policy, whose photos with thousands of detainees, most of them young, have made the Bukele world famous. However, human rights groups have questioned the framing of many of these convictions or detentions, saying they were based on torture or at least affected human rights, but Bukele’s government rejected the accusations, describing them as “baseless” accusation”. .
Therefore, it is noted that in the past two and a half years, there have been more than 80,000 cases of detention under special regimes, but human rights defenders say that they have received 6,400 complaints of human rights violations, mainly due to torture. “More than 300 deaths may have occurred in prisons, with almost all victims showing signs of violence.”
The reaction of ministers and officials in Bukele’s government was the same: “baseless complaints from an organization dedicated only to protecting criminals.”
Zero Leisure: Plan to slightly reduce prison terms
Meanwhile, Bukele’s prison administration showed that thousands of detainees “work in different jobs at the La Esperanza Penal Center in the suburbs of San Salvador, a space reserved for regular prisoners and gang collaborators” projects, but not gang members.” Considered the most dangerous criminal”.
“For us this is welcome [cualquier pedido de costura]because it gives us the opportunity to have fun and avoid being idle,” he said. Raul Lopez32 years old, He has successfully reduced his sentence from 8 years to 40 years by virtue of his work in the workshop.
Most of the 256 inmates at the sewing center wear light blue vests as they work at sewing machines. According to Lopez, most of the people displaying blue clothing besides him were gang collaborators. A total of 29,073 inmates in La Esperanza participate in the Zero Leisure program, including approximately 6,000 inmates arrested for common crimes.
The remaining 23,000 prisoners are gang collaborators detained within the framework of the “war” against these criminal gangs launched by President Nayib Bukele in March 2022 under the protection of the emergency regime.
“Gang members cannot rejoin…”
“Los [presos] Prison Director Juan José Montano explained during a visit by journalists, including the team: Officials from AFP clarified that, unlike the collaborators, “Gang members cannot reintegrate because they are part of organized crime and the only way to leave these gangs is to die.”
“Many of them engage in crime out of fear [a los pandilleros]out of survival instinct. These are the people we are trying to rehabilitate and we are giving them an opportunity,” Montano stressed.
One of the most active workshops is the Industrial Training Center textileprisoners made uniforms for the military, athletes, or the prisoners themselves.
About 2,000 prisoners leave the prison every day. “Trust Stage” Work to support communities, build two hospitals or develop a fumigation program to prevent dengue fever. There are also fun things to do in La Esperanza, They have an orchestra of 25 prisoners that performs at cultural events.
On the outskirts of Santa Ana, about 70 kilometers west of San Salvador, There is also a vast farm and a huge metal structure workshop where 5,000 regular prisoners can work.
El Salvador has 81,900 alleged gang members detained under a special system, and when added to those detained for ordinary crimes, the total number of prisoners exceeds 100,000.
AFP/HB
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