The invitation letter, signed to the black marker “Donald”, above the compact paraph and all in Trump’s tips, is more than Micale. She is fraternal. The missive has been the pride of its recipient, the president of Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who hastened to publish it on his X account. The leaders of the most populous country in North America and the smallest in Central America will meet in the White House, April 14, for a “Working visit”. A way for the American president, who has no words complimentary enough to describe his Salvadoral counterpart (“A model for all those who seek to work with the United States”), to reward your alter ego from the tropics. The two men love authority, order, social networks, cryptocurrencies, provocations. And above all, they love each other a lot. Of a demonstrative friendship. Because Bukele, champion of the fight against organized crime, has become the host warning of criminals expelled by America.
For a handful of dollars, the Salvadoral President opened his mega-prisons to members of the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a transnational criminal organization which originates from the Salvadoral immigrants who arrived in the USA in the 1970s. Two ultraviolent mafias living in human drug money and The most barbaric crimes: decapitation, cannibalism, rape of minors, bus fire, abstract … often filmed and disseminated abuses on the internet. But beware, the Salvadoral Head of State does not share its ultra-secure jails by Pan-Rameician charity.
It does it mainly by economic interest. Since Trump’s nomination, several members – and not the least – of the American administration went to Salvador, checkbook in his pocket. Marco Rubio made his second trip to it as Secretary of State in February. Welcomed by the Bukele couple, delighted to present their baby to the new leader of diplomacy, before going to talk about a man’s business during a walk on the shores of the lake of Coatepeque. A virile discussion that led to a simple financial agreement: six million dollars to receive gang members expelled by the United States for a year and from which Venezuela does not want.
“A low royalty for the United States, but a significant sum for us”in the words of Bukele, which qualified this offer as a service as“Prison outsourcing”. The Deal, renewable, will finance the country’s penitentiary infrastructure, such as the center of confinement of terrorism (nicknamed Cecot, its acronym in Spanish), this “mega-prison” guarded by hundreds of vigils and which concretizes the policy against crime in band organized by Bukele. In mid-March, 238 members of Tren of Aragua and 23 others from MS-13, often of Venezuelan origin, arrived by an American charter plane on Salvadoran soil, before taking the direction of CECOT, 75 kilometers south-east of the capital Salvador.
In the hell of a mega-prison
The place, with a capacity of 40,000 detainees and an area of 160 hectares, is the largest prison in the Americas and the second in the world after that of Marmara, Turkey. Some media even mention the presence of 100,000 prisoners. As a welcome gift, Bukele posted photos of arrivals, head down, surrounded by police officers and soldiers on the airport tarmac on X.
The CECOT, which gives horror chills to Amnesty International, was inaugurated in 2023. It is the symbol of the presidency of Bukele, started in 2019, which had made zero tolerance and the fight against corruption its campaign themes in a country ravaged by blood. Each cell can contain 80 detainees that pile up on bunk beds and have only two toilets and a sink. The prisoners, dressed in white shorts, remain shirtless. Alcatraz, next to it, would have the appearance of Mini-Disneyland. Trump’s dream!
$ 6 million to receive these criminals
On March 27, another star of the American administration came to visit the facilities, with force staged. Kristi Noem, the interior security secretary, went to CECOT to film a message intended for gang members attempted to win the United States or to stay there. Cap screwed on her long black hair, she stood in front of the gates of a cell in which dozens of tattooed individuals listened to her wisely as if it were a chief supervisor. The former governess of southern Dakota, known to be a woman with grip, launched: “Do not come to our country illegally. You will be expelled and you will be continued. Know that this installation is one of the tools of our arsenal, that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people. »» Human rights associations have seen shameless support for what they qualify as “Authoritarian regime” Or “Hybrid”.
With his quickdraw of a trendy young man (he likes to wear his caps upside down and we rarely see him in costume), Bukele, sometimes nicknamed the “Cool dictator”however, is not a kind of casual clone of Pinochet. His relentless fight against gangs, his inflexible methods and sometimes it is true, brutal, made him extremely popular. At 43, Bukele is one of the most popular heads of state in the world with satisfaction rates oscillating between 75 and 90 %. Charismatic, pragmatic, this son of a Palestinian businessman from Bethlehem (first Christian then converted to Islam) was even re -elected in 2024 with the crushing score of 84 % of the votes.
Salvador is now one of the safest countries in the world
His muscular recipes have transfigured this country long considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Since March 2022, Bukele has established an exceptional regime in response to a wave of assassinations attributed to mafia organizations Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18, having caused the death of 88 people in two days. These drastic security measures, including a massive deployment of soldiers on the streets, the entire encirclement of cities or districts suspected of sheltering gang members, allowed the arrest of more than 75,000 people suspected of belonging to criminal gangs. With real defense rights: lawyers are not always welcome. A real Kacherization of the country. Under its presidency, the rate of homicides in Salvador experienced a spectacular decrease. In 2015, the country recorded 106 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. This figure fell to 2.4 in 2023 and 1.9 in 2024 – less than France! Salvador is now one of the safest countries in the world.
Tourism explodes
Better still, this small Republic, of just over six million inhabitants, lives an unprecedented tourist boom, becoming a kind of sunny haven of peace. Its visitors come to taste pupusas, these stuffed corn pancakes typical of Salvador, and appreciate its coastal landscapes on the Pacific as well as the tranquility of urban life! In parallel, foreign investments increased by 344 % in 2023, reaching $ 760 million!
Trump therefore welcomes more than a business partner. The American president, who nourishes admiration only for policies obtaining results, receives a specialist whose procedures he approves not only of which he wants to be inspired. While waiting to have his “mega-prison”, Trump, who has little illusions on the transposition of such a device in the United States, would like to extend these prison stays in Salvador to American criminals. A form of export which, this time, will be exempt from customs duties.
