News Americas, Washington, D.C., Wed. Nov. 12, 2025: A shocking new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and regional rights group Cristosal alleges that Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador earlier this year were tortured, disappeared, and subjected to sexual violence inside the Central American country’s notorious mega-prison.
The 81-page report, titled “You Have Arrived in Hell”, documents severe human rights violations suffered by 252 Venezuelans the U.S. transferred to El Salvador between March and April 2025—despite widely known abuses occurring in the country’s prison system under President Nayib Bukele.
FLASHBACK – A second group of 2,000 detainees are moved to the mega-prison Terrorist Confinement Centre (CECOT)on March 15, 2023 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Since president Bukele announced a state of exception in March 2022, over 62,000 suspected gang members have been arrested. Human Rights organizations denounce abuses and due process violations. El Salvador has one of highest crime rates in Latin America. A first group of detainees had been moved to the prison on February 26. (Photo by Handout/Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images )
Torture, Sexual Violence and Enforced Disappearance
According to HRW and Cristosal, Venezuelans held at the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) – one of the largest prisons in the world — were subjected to routine beatings, daily humiliation rituals, psychological abuse, inhumane conditions and at least three cases of sexual assault.
One former detainee told researchers: “They took us out of our cells every day, made us kneel with our hands cuffed behind our backs, and beat us with batons, kicks and fists.”
Mervin Yamarte, a Venezuelan migrant repatriated from a prison in El Salvador, cries during a Christian evangelical service in Los Pescadores neighborhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 23, 2025. 252 Venezuelans were detained in US President Donald Trump’s March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. Trump’s administration paid El Salvador’s government $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars. All 252 detainees were freed on July 18 in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. (Photo by FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)
Others said guards retaliated against detainees who spoke with Red Cross staff during a May 2025 monitoring visit. One man described choking on his own blood after a guard repeatedly punched him in the stomach.
Researchers concluded that the abuses were systematic, not isolated acts of rogue guards. Evidence suggests authorities acted under the belief that their superiors approved or tolerated the brutality. Conditions inside the prison included inadequate food, poor sanitation, lack of medical care, and no access to recreation or education, the report said.
U.S. Complicity Alleged
Human Rights Watch accused the Trump administration of direct complicity, stating that the U.S. paid El Salvador millions of dollars to detain Venezuelans — including asylum seekers who had passed credible fear screenings in the United States.
“The Trump administration is complicit in torture, enforced disappearance, and other grave violations,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at HRW. “The U.S. must stop sending people to countries where they face torture.”
HRW noted that roughly half of the Venezuelans deported had no criminal history, and only 3% had been convicted of a violent offense in the U.S.
Relatives were given no information on detainees’ whereabouts, leading to at least 76 habeas corpus petitions before El Salvador’s Supreme Court — none of which have been acted on.
Sent Back to Venezuela in Swap Deal
In mid-July, El Salvador abruptly transferred all 252 Venezuelans back to Venezuela in exchange for 10 U.S. citizens or permanent residents detained by the Maduro government. Venezuela, meanwhile, remains under investigation for widespread human rights violations and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
Calls for Immediate Action
Advocates warn that the case marks the most severe U.S. involvement in torture allegations since the post-9/11 era.
“Disappearing people into the hands of a government that tortures them runs against the very principles that historically made the U.S. a nation of laws,” said Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal.
HRW and Cristosal are calling for:
- An immediate halt to U.S. deportations to El Salvador
- Full public disclosure of funding arrangements
- Independent investigations into abuses at CECOT
- Accountability for both U.S. and Salvadoran officials involved
The U.S. and Salvadoran governments have so far not commented on the report.
