US President Donald Trump announced this weekend plans to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the former maximum-security prison on an island near San Francisco, which closed in 1963. The Republican leader intends to use the facility to house America’s “most violent” criminals, including repeat offenders and potentially undocumented immigrants with alleged criminal records. He directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and FBI to execute this plan, emphasizing it as a symbol of “Law, Order, and Justice.”
Ecuadorean Ministers John Reimberg (Interior) and Gian Carlo Loffredo (Defense ) toured El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) to pick up some ideas with which to build similar facilities in their country, known for its prison violence problems.
Presidents Donald Trump of the United States and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador got together Monday morning at the White House, marking the Central American visitor the first Latin American leader to he hosted by the Republican head of State since his return to office. It was also the first visit by a Salvadoran president since 2014, when Barack Obama welcomed Salvador Sánchez Cerén.
Venezuela has agreed with the US Trump administration to resume repatriation flights for deported Venezuelan nationals, officials announced confirming first flights on Sunday. Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela's National Assembly President said the goal was to “ensure the return of our countrymen with the protection of their human rights.”
Venezuela's Bolivarian Government issued earlier this week a travel advisory warning its citizens against visiting the United States following Washington's deportation of many Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador's maximum security Cecot prison.
Salvadoran authorities Sunday received 238 members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua and 23 members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, expelled from the United States under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a law unused since World War II. President Nayib Bukele acknowledged their arrival and immediate transfer to the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), built in 2023 to house high-profile criminals.
Argentina's Security Minister Patricia Bullrich Sunday visited El Salvador's controversial Confinement Center for Terrorism (CECOT), probably seeking to replicate the model in her country, it was reported. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele had told her he was open to giving Argentina any assistance it might need regarding security issues.