{"id":3510,"date":"2026-07-18T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=3510"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:05:16","slug":"my-exclusive-interviews-with-el-salvadors-most-dangerous-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=3510","title":{"rendered":"My Exclusive Interviews With El Salvador\u2019s Most Dangerous Criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I saw the volcano before I saw the prison.<\/p>\n

Guards lined the tropical road beneath the active San Vicente, where we had already been stopped and frisked before our van was allowed to continue.<\/p>\n

Read more Michigan State University Is Selling Shirts With Arabic, Chinese Text<\/a><\/p>\n

Soon, we arrived at El Salvador\u2019s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, the massive prison built in 2023 to house the country\u2019s worst of the worst: thousands of convicted murderers from the gangs that had terrorized the nation for decades.(RELATED: From Bloodshed To Bukele: A Timeline Of El Salvador\u2019s War, Gangs And Crackdown)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Upon seeing the 57 acres of concrete walls that made up the prison\u2019s exterior, my mind immediately turned to Edmund Burke\u2019s notion of the sublime: the often-overlooked cousin of beauty that, rather than delighting the viewer, evokes an immediate sense of awe, power and dread\u2014a feeling usually reserved for vast, immovable forces of nature or realities so immense that they force us to confront the limits of our own existence.<\/p>\n

Inside, our bodies were thoroughly searched before we stepped into a scanner capable of seeing through our clothing for contraband, leaving nothing private or sacred.<\/p>\n

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After touring the dormitory and armory, we boarded a bus that carried us across the compound to the northeasternmost of CECOT\u2019s eight cell blocks.<\/p>\n

Walking in, the block felt empty. It resembled a vacant airplane hangar, except for a line of guards in SWAT uniforms standing shoulder to shoulder along yellow lines, staring through the metal grates.<\/p>\n

Only when I followed their gaze did I see them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sixty-four murderers stared back.<\/p>\n

Each had a shaved head. Many had tattoos covering their bodies. They all wore the same uniform: white shirts, white pants, and Crocs, with many also wearing medical masks.<\/p>\n

They sat perched on bare metal bunk beds stacked four high in rows of four, watching me from behind their masks as though I were the most entertaining thing that had happened to them in a long time. My guess is that I probably was.<\/p>\n

The block contained 32 of these mass-confinement cells, enough for me to estimate an approximate 2,048 prisoners housed there, with every one of them focused on me.<\/p>\n

CECOT Director Belarmino Garc\u00eda explained that the lights remain on around the clock and that prisoners spend 23\u00bd hours each day inside their cells, leaving only to go to the middle of the block for brief supervised exercise or short daily seminars focused on spiritual and life guidance.<\/p>\n

He also showed us where prisoners\u2019 medical records are kept, the rooms where inmates meet attorneys or appear in court by video as in-person visitors are prohibited, and the solitary confinement unit known as \u201cthe island,\u201d where a ventilation hole carved into a concrete slab provides the prisoners\u2019 only source of air and light for up to 14 days.<\/p>\n

We were then introduced to three gang members who removed their shirts to display tattoos identifying them as MS-13 members. Some referenced the gang\u2019s birthplace of Los Angeles. Others displayed occult imagery, including devil horns tattooed above one prisoner\u2019s temples.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but think how skinny the inmates looked, especially compared with videos showing their arrival at CECOT.<\/p>\n

One of the three stood out. As he held his shirt above his head, guards read through a rap sheet that had earned him a prison sentence of more than 1,000 years. Within seconds, what remained of the once-feared gang member began trembling under the strain of simply keeping his arms raised.<\/p>\n

I was then taken to the head of the cell block to meet the prisoner I would interview.<\/p>\n

After attaching a microphone to the collar of Marvin Ernesto Medrano V\u00e1zquez, an MS-13 member and founder of the Crazy Crime clique, I shared pleasantries with a man I would learn had murdered more than 30 people\u2014and had no regrets.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez entered from one side of the room and sat in a chair. I entered from the other end and squatted so we could speak eye to eye through the bars separating us.<\/p>\n

I had only 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

My local interpreter, overwhelmed by fear, chose to remain outside the room, volunteering to film through the gate instead while wearing a medical mask to conceal his identity.<\/p>\n

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I couldn\u2019t blame him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, this is a maximum security prison. This, according to what I\u2019ve heard\u2026 nobody leaves this facility,\u201d V\u00e1zquez told me after showing me the large \u201cMS\u201d tattoo across his stomach. \u201cWe can only speak of the past, because there\u2019s no future here.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez had lived in the United States for 15 years before fleeing to El Salvador after killing another gang member.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019ve lived my whole life in gangs, ever since I was in the United States. Just as I committed crimes there, I came here to commit crimes,\u201d the murderer said. \u201cI\u2019ve always lived like this, for my life is to kill. Why? Because I was seeking revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez said vengeance fueled both gangs, describing it as the \u201cnorm of Gang coexistence.\u201d He said members of the rival Barrio 18 gang had intended to kill his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to kill them and anyone who messes with us,\u201d the hardened criminal promised.<\/p>\n

Living alongside rival gang members is among the hardest parts of prison, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult, because one day we were killing each other, but today we have no other option but to just spend time together,\u201d he said, explaining that the eerie silence throughout the cell block was normal, as there is nothing to say to the men who killed your brothers.<\/p>\n

Looking over my shoulder, I saw my translator doing everything he could to avoid making eye contact with the incarcerated killer before I used my broken Spanish to ask V\u00e1zquez how he would respond to human rights organizations that have alleged prisoners have been starved or abused.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, here they\u2019ve never hit me, they\u2019ve never disrespected me,\u201d V\u00e1zquez said, adding, \u201cMealtimes are regular, water is plentiful, but I have to live with my enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also pointed to the constant medical attention provided, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a joy to leave that cell.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez said he is treated \u201chumanely,\u201d despite believing he doesn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, we don\u2019t deserve it, because when someone asked you for forgiveness, pleading \u2018don\u2019t kill me,\u2019 we killed them, we didn\u2019t forgive, and here they forgive us for our lives,\u201d the head of the clique said.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1zquez said he and his cellmates are \u201cbeyond recovery\u201d and that society is better off with them inside CECOT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the Salvadoran population has benefited, because those who once terrorized the people out there, killed people out there, are all imprisoned today,\u201d V\u00e1zquez said. \u201cWhat I tell the youth is to take advantage of the opportunity that the president has given them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lost everything. Well, what am I supposed to do at night? Cry. Why? Because we\u2019re gone. There\u2019s no other option. What else can we do? That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been dealt. Why? Because we chose this life and there\u2019s no way out,\u201d the killer lamented. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to change, because we\u2019ve already have our norms. Our duty is simply to maintain them until the day arrives that we are going to have to give an account.\u201d (RELATED: How El Salvador Beat The Gang Problem America Still Can\u2019t Control)<\/strong><\/p>\n

For perhaps the first time in my life, I offered a short prayer for mercy on a mass murderer.<\/p>\n

If you want to learn more, watch the new Daily Caller documentary \u201cInside CECOT: The World\u2019s Most Dangerous Prison\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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