Inhabitants of various communities in the department of San Vicente, in The Savior, protested and rejected this Monday the construction of a “gigantic” prison for assumptions gang members captured during the emergency regime of Nayib Bukeleimplemented in the country to combat the maras.
According to local press reports, residents of the municipality of Tecoluca, in San Vicente, where the prison structure is supposed to be erected, said the project will bring “serious” environmental and social damage.
“It is a project without consultingwhich does not have the approval of the municipality and which will generate serious environmental, social and productive damage, such as the pollution of rivers, streams and aquifers of which the communities subsist,” said Marina Diazrepresentative of the inhabitants, in a video broadcast by the local media The printing press.
Executive Announcement
President Nayib Bukele announced on June 22 in Twitter the construction of a “giant” prison to which the alleged gang members captured during the emergency regime will be taken.
The president indicated, at that time, that the penitentiary center will be “away from the cities, surrounded by hundreds of blocks of state-owned land, with hundreds of thousands of meters of construction, several levels of walls and 37 watchtowers, which will make an escape impossible”.
The inhabitants “held responsibility” for the mayor of Tecoluca, Nicolas Antonio Garciaand the New Ideas (NI) party, with a majority in Congress, for “authorizing the construction of said prison” and for “the damage” that this may cause.
On July 22, Bukele pointed out in Twitter that the “mega-prison will have space for 40,000 terroristswho will be cut off from the outside world”.
That is the only information that is known regarding said penal center, since the Government it has not reported how much the amount is and where it is being financed the work.
El Salvador has been in a state of emergency since the end of March following a wave of murders the last weekend of March that left 87 victims. In response, the Legislative Assembly approved the suspension of constitutional guarantees to give special powers to the Executive. (EFE)
