Spanish
San Salvador,.- The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, posted on X that his country has the "best system" of prisons in the world, in which more than 48,000 prisoners work to reduce their sentences.
"The best prison system in the world," Bukele posted in response to a message from the head of prisons, Osiris Luna, sanctioned by the United States for allegedly organizing meetings with gang leaders with the Government.You may be interested in: Carolina Mejía participates in a meeting with President Nayib Bukele
The video indicates that there are more than 48,000 people deprived of liberty, "who are not gang members," who work in exchange for reducing their sentences, although reports from local media indicate that detainees within the framework of an exception regime, in force since March 2022, would be working despite not having convictions. Furthermore, the video shows that more than 6,000 inmates are expected to produce 150,000 pairs of shoes monthly, as part of the Cero Ocio program, which in other administrations was called Yo Cambio, and that 15,000 prisoners work with the state-owned company Constructora El Salvador. The audiovisual material was initially published by Luna, who said on their X account that "we will continue working on solving the problems that seemed impossible; although some, inside and outside our country, try to stop us". Luna has been seen amidst controversy in recent days after a publication by The New York Times indicating that in 2020 he would have offered the United States Government to testify about the negotiations between the Bukele Government and the gangs in exchange for asylum. The Salvadoran media outlet El Diario de Hoy reported on its web version that the report by the American media, entitled: 'Trump promised to dismantle MS-13. His agreement with Bukele threatens that effort', indicates that Luna would have sought to negotiate a "luxury" asylum. A September 10, 2020 State Department cable "said that Luna showed embassy officials a screenshot from a security camera of several masked men entering one of the prisons he oversaw," the text indicates. The Salvadoran government has not commented on this publication in the United States. Luna was one of those singled out in 2021 by the U.S. State Department on its list of 55 alleged "corrupt and anti-democratic actors" from Central America. He was also sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act along with another official with whom he allegedly "directed, facilitated, and organized a series of secret meetings involving incarcerated gang leaders" and who "were part of the El Salvador government's efforts to negotiate a secret truce with gang leaders."
