Folha de S.Paulo conducted a two-hour visit to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot) in El Salvador in December 2025, following a request made in November 2024. Reporter Daniela Arcanjo joined journalists and influencers on a tour guided by Nayib Bukele's government. This experience launches a series of reports on the prison, which has become a symbol of the fight against gangs and a target for criticism over human rights violations.
The series 'Cecot - Inside Bukele's Prison' debuts on Folha's website on the evening of January 11, 2026, and in the print edition on January 12. Access to the prison was approved over a year after the initial request in November 2024, enabling a four-day trip to the Central American country.
Located in Tecoluca, about an hour from San Salvador, Cecot was inaugurated in January 2023 under the state of emergency in place since 2022. The complex, designed for up to 40,000 inmates, currently holds nearly 20,000, according to director Belarmino García. During the tour, starting at 7:45 a.m. from the Presidential House, the group underwent strict checks and observed cells housing 80 to 100 prisoners, with four-tier metal bunks, no pillows or sheets. Inmates spend 23 hours and 30 minutes a day in cells, eat with their hands, and never see the sun again. 'The light never goes out here,' García explained about the constant illumination.
The facility is guarded by 600 military personnel and 250 police, with electrified fences and armed towers. García emphasized that the inmates are 'psychopaths' from gangs like MS-13, displaying symbolic tattoos. Limited activities include Bible reading and exercises, but no sunbathing. A notable exception was 252 Venezuelans deported from the US by Donald Trump in 2025, released after torture allegations by Human Rights Watch and Cristosal, including beatings and sexual abuse.
For Bukele supporters, Cecot symbolizes success in curbing violence; critics see democratic erosion. The series will also cover Brazilian politicians' visits and family accounts. One inmate, Alex Alfredo Ábrego from MS-13, told Folha: 'I live better [here]. I have all the basics to live in this place.'
