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yesterday

Bukele Offers to Ship CECOT Inmates to Paris After Fashion Week Critique

His offer follows a Willy Chavarria runway show resembling the mega-prison’s uniforms, highlighting global scrutiny of detainee rights.

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TECOLUCA, EL SALVADOR - MARCH 16: In this handout photo provided by the Salvadoran government, guards escort the inmates allegedly linked to criminal organizations at CECOT on March 16, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Trump's administration deported 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organizations 'Tren De Aragua' and Mara Salvatrucha with only 23 being members of the Mara. Nayib Bukele president of El Salvador announced that his government will receive the alleged members of the gang to be taken to CECOT. On February of 2023 El Salvador inaugurated Latin America's largest prison as part of President Nayib Bukele's plan to fight gangs. (Photo by Salvadoran Government via Getty Images)

Overview

  • President Nayib Bukele wrote on social media that he is ready to ship all inmates from the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to France after Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarria’s Paris Fashion Week show evoked prison uniforms.
  • CECOT opened in 2023 under a state of exception with capacity for 40,000 inmates and was built to detain alleged MS-13 and Barrio 18 gang members.
  • More than 200 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. under a multimillion-dollar Trump administration deal have been housed at CECOT alongside domestic detainees.
  • El Salvador’s government credits CECOT and its broader anti-gang crackdown for a nearly 70 percent drop in the national homicide rate in 2023.
  • Human Rights Watch and other organizations report that inmates are allowed just 30 minutes outside their cells each day, lack guaranteed legal counsel and have minimal family contact, and these groups are pursuing legal challenges to CECOT’s practices.