El Salvador and Cuba, the two Latin American countries with the most prisoners (Bloomberg)
Raids by tens of thousands of suspected gang members have given El Salvador the world’s highest prison population per capita. According to him World Prison Summary Report from Birkbeck College, University of Londonthe percentage of prison inmates in this Central American country is higher than in the United States and Cuba.
President Nayib Bukele’s government declared a state of emergency last year and built a gigantic prison complex control of gang violence. Human rights groups have criticized the lack of due process, but the crackdown is popular with the public.
El Salvador’s security authorities have reported under the emergency regime in place since late March following an escalation in killings attributed to gangs. more than 60,400 arrestswhat would represent about 1% of the total population of the country. According to the latest Multiple Purpose Household Survey, the total population of El Salvador is 6,325,827.
According to Zaira Navas, legal director of the humanitarian organization Cristosal, “Even before the start of the emergency regime, El Salvador had a high overpopulation and a high death rate overcrowding‘ in prisons. Navas told the EFE news agency that “by 2021 prisons reported an installed capacity of 32,000 people”, but the number of prisoners was “much higher”.
General view of the construction of the prison complex known as the “Centro de Reclusión del Terrorismo,” which President Nayib Bukele has said will hold 40,000 inmates, in Tecoluca, El Salvador (Portal/Jose Cabezas)
According to the University of London report There are currently 605 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants in El Salvador. In other words, there are more than 38,250 inmates in the Central American country.
Y In Cuba there are 510 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants, according to the report. In other words, considering the island’s population of 11.2 million according to 2021 World Bank data, around 57,100 people would be incarcerated.
The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) denounced last Thursday that there are currently 1,057 political prisoners in Cuba, 29 new in december.
“Each month, Cuba continues to harass, threaten, subpoena and arrest, imprison and prosecute thousands of people an average of more than 30 new political prisoners per month. People live in fear and gagged. Cuba has become one big prison for the vast majority of citizens. Despite the misery Cuba is going through, the tremendous repression leaves Cubans living in real fear for their safety and severely curtails their most basic freedoms,” the Madrid-based organization said in its latest monthly report.
File photo of the double perimeter fences of the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, Cuba (EFE)
PD criticized the fact that without judicial supervision, these detainees are subject to “judicial verdicts or provisions restricting their freedom by prosecutors”. flagrant violation of international law and due process. Of the total number of detainees, “190 protesters were charged with sedition and at least 175 were sentenced to an average of more than 10 years in prison each,” the report details. He added that “938 political prisoners who are on the list were convicted sentenced to life imprisonment on 18 counts”.
In addition, the PD report stated that “at least 123 women (including several transgender people) remain prosecuted and politically convicted and convicted of conscience.” “All of the trans women in prison have been and continue to be imprisoned among men and have endured unspeakable situations because of their sexual condition.”denounced.
(With information from Bloomberg and EFE)
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Human Rights Watch warned of “heinous” abuses in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. Despite allegations of abuse, the Salvadoran Congress extended the emergency regime imposed by Bukele, stepped up its fight against gangs and locked in another community with more than 1,000 police officers. Capital Prisoners Defenders denounced that there are 1,057 political prisoners in Cuba: “The repression by the Regime frightens and gags the civilian population”