El salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center: A Response to Gang Violence

Updated June 10, 2025

The construction of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, stems from the pervasive killings that once plagued the ⁢nation. ⁢Investigations over the past year have revealed the extent of the violence, with President Nayib Bukele himself⁢ describing the vicious murders perpetrated by gangs.

Local investigators, in May, guided reporters to a grim killing field, exposing a world of macabre rituals.At Mount St. Bartolo, an old farmer pointed out a “killing tree,” its trunk bearing the scars of machetes. According to carlos, a guide, the marks were not made by farmers, but were instead the site where a ⁢torso was hung.