{"id":9012,"date":"2024-08-26T08:45:47","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/stuck-in-cecot-one-of-the-worlds-toughest-jails-despite-judges-orders\/"},"modified":"2024-08-26T08:45:47","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:45:47","slug":"stuck-in-cecot-one-of-the-worlds-toughest-jails-despite-judges-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/stuck-in-cecot-one-of-the-worlds-toughest-jails-despite-judges-orders\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuck in Cecot, one of the world’s toughest jails despite judges’ orders"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"NataliaNatalia Alberto<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata’s mother, Marcela Alvarado, has not heard from him since he was detained more than two years ago<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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If he is still alive, Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata is trapped in a living nightmare.<\/p>\n

For more than two years, the 26-year-old tractor driver has been in prison in El Salvador, accused of \u201cgang association\u201d, even though the country\u2019s legal system has twice ordered his immediate release.<\/p>\n

Despite two judges\u2019 clearly worded decisions in his favour, Mr Mata still languishes inside one of the toughest prisons in the world: El Salvador\u2019s notorious Cecot, a super-max facility for the \u201cconfinement of terrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n

The BBC has repeatedly brought the case to the attention of the Salvadorean government \u2013 including directly to the public prosecutor\u2019s office, the security ministry, the vice-president, and President Nayib Bukele himself earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Despite several assurances the authorities would investigate, no action has been taken to date.<\/p>\n

It is a tale of Kafkaesque proportions.<\/p>\n

In April 2022, Mr Mata was on his way home in the dusty rural community of La Noria when he was stopped by troops who had entered his village as part of President Bukele\u2019s nationwide crackdown on the country\u2019s powerful street gangs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"LissetteLissette Lemus \/ BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Each cell in El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison can hold more than 150 inmates<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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With a raft of constitutional rights suspended under an emergency decree called the State of Exception, police and troops can detain anyone suspected of gang affiliation without due legal process.<\/p>\n

Around 70,000 people have been arrested in two years including some 3,000 children, many with no discernible link to gang activity, says the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

Despite Mr Mata\u2019s protestations that he had never been in or worked for a gang, the troops detained him for \u201cillicit association\u201d \u2013 a catch-all term used under the State of Exception to round people up.<\/p>\n

His mother, Marcela Alvarado, hasn\u2019t seen or heard from her son since that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police told me I needed to bring evidence to prove his innocence, so I gathered up his high school diploma, the deeds to his land, his repayment receipts on his bank loan, a declaration from his employer as to his good character,\u201d she explains, showing the BBC the documents, which experts say almost no Salvadorean gang member would possess.<\/p>\n

Her efforts were in vain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jos\u00e9 Duval was tried alongside more than 350 other inmates in a mass trial which lasted just minutes. He was sentenced to an initial six months, which has since been extended indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Marcela still cries at the memory. But things were about to get far worse.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Duval was briefly freed after a judge ordered his immediate release in September 2022. <\/p>\n

However, he was then rearrested at the doors of the prison \u2013 on the same charges \u2013 as he waited for his family to come and pick him up.<\/p>\n

Rearrests of prisoners at the prison gates \u201care arbitrary actions\u2026 illegal detentions and cases of double jeopardy,\u201d says Noah Bullock, the executive director of El Salvador\u2019s leading human rights NGO, Cristosal. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he says, the practice has been widespread under the State of Exception.<\/p>\n

In June 2023, a second judge confirmed the earlier decision to free Mr Mata. Yet, more than a year later, he remains behind bars and Marcela\u2019s increasingly desperate requests for information have fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NataliaNatalia Alberto<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Marcela Alvarado says she provided the authorities with documents to prove her son’s innocence<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Jos\u00e9 Duval\u2019s family has now lodged his case with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. <\/p>\n

A source inside the Salvadorean public prosecutor\u2019s office has told the BBC they could see \u201cno legal justification or any clear explanation\u201d for the young man\u2019s continued detention.<\/p>\n

Throughout the ordeal, Marcela faithfully took a food parcel each week to the Izalco prison where her son was housed \u2013 a plastic bag filled with \u201ccornflakes, oatmeal, bread and cookies\u201d, she said, to help sustain Jos\u00e9 Duval beyond his meagre prison rations.<\/p>\n

When she delivered a food bag in June of last year, guards told her that he had been transferred from the penitentiary some weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

Her worst fears had been realised.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Duval was now inside the Cecot \u2013 the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism \u2013 a maximum-security jail which is the cornerstone of Mr Bukele\u2019s anti-gang policy. <\/p>\n

Mr Bukele\u2019s supporters hail the facility as evidence of his iron fist on gang crime. <\/p>\n

Its critics consider it a black hole of human rights and one of the harshest prisons in the world.<\/p>\n

President Bukele has often said the inmates will not see \u201ca ray of sunshine\u201d and receive the most basic rations of cold rice and tortillas. <\/p>\n

Images of shaven-headed and heavily tattooed inmates being transferred into the facility were widely published by the Bukele government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

El Salvador’s government has published photos – like this one from 2023 – to publicise its crackdown on gangs<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mr Bukele has repeatedly defended the State of Exception and the Cecot for changing the face of security in El Salvador. <\/p>\n

Numerous “no-go” areas and gang-controlled neighbourhoods are indeed back under the control of the security forces, and entire communities say they no longer live in fear.<\/p>\n

As such, the crackdown is hugely popular. Millions in El Salvador are eternally grateful to their young, media-savvy leader for tackling the gang problem with swift and ruthless force.<\/p>\n

In February, President Nayib Bukele was re-elected in a landslide<\/a>, securing around 90% of the vote. <\/p>\n

At a news conference, I asked him if in his second term he would focus on freeing those who had been unjustly detained.<\/p>\n

President Bukele launched into a long answer attacking his critics, particularly those from abroad, arguing that there had been high-profile miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n

His security forces had only made, he said, \u201ca couple of mistakes\u201d and some 7,000 people had already been released.<\/p>\n

The crackdown had restored calm to El Salvador\u2019s streets and that was the most important thing, he insisted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

President Bukele’s popularity has surged following the mass arrests of alleged gang members<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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I told him specifics about Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata\u2019s case and, following the news conference, his team asked me for copies of the judges\u2019 release orders. A few days later, a member of his inner circle requested the information a second time, this time in digital format, which I again provided to them.<\/p>\n

Over the following weeks, the BBC repeatedly chased up the Bukele administration and I have spoken directly to the vice-president, F\u00e9lix Ulloa, on several occasions about the case.<\/p>\n

Over a year ago, he told the BBC that Mr Mata was just days away from being set free.<\/p>\n

Mr Ulloa said he hoped that, once out of prison, the media would portray Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata as an \u201cemblematic case of due process\u201d.<\/p>\n

In fact, at that point, he was being transferred to the Cecot without his family\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, after months of requests, the BBC did gain access to the Cecot but we were not permitted to speak to the inmates or ask officials about specific cases.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Marcela has had no proof of life or formal confirmation of her son\u2019s welfare in over two years. Unsurprisingly, it has often crossed her mind that Jos\u00e9 Duval might have died in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to think about it non-stop\u201d, she tells me from her tiny patch of land in La Noria. \u201cI was obsessed with the idea, I felt completely desperate. All I would do is cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, she says, she\u2019s just clinging to the hope that her son is still alive and will eventually be released.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m placing my trust in God. It\u2019s all I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Natalia Alberto Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata’s mother, Marcela Alvarado, has not heard from him since he was detained more than two years ago If he is still alive, Jos\u00e9 Duval Mata is trapped in a living nightmare. For more than two years, the 26-year-old tractor driver has been in prison in El Salvador, accused of \u201cgang […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9014,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012\/revisions\/9014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}