CNN
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Matt Gates looked impressed as he stood in the echoing hallways of the prison.
“There’s far more discipline in this prison than you’ll find in many prisons in the United States,” said Gaetz, then a congressman and now announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general. spoke.
It was July, and Mr. Gates (who would oversee federal prisons if he became attorney general) was in charge of El Salvador’s notorious terrorist confinement, where gang leaders and murderers are locked up and never released. I was visiting the center (Sekot).
The prison is a concrete example of El Salvador’s President Nayib Boucle’s hard-line rule. The president is often criticized by human rights groups for flouting norms, but is widely praised at home for restoring safety to the streets.
“This is the solution” for El Salvador, Gates added in a video released by Bukele. “We believe that good ideas in El Salvador have real legs and can go elsewhere and help other people feel safe and secure and find hope and prosperity.”
Last month, CNN became the first major U.S. news organization to be granted access to a private tour of Sekot, inspecting the recently constructed fort. There, convicts and some men still on trial spend 23 and a half hours a day in bleak group cells and eat bland, meatless meals. Take just 30 minutes a day to diet, exercise, or Bible class.
This is a transformation of El Salvador’s upstart that Mr. Bukele achieved by upending the system, giving new powers to law enforcement under a state of emergency, sending candidates to the Supreme Court, and asking the Supreme Court for permission to run. This is part of the A second term, which was previously unconstitutional. Bukele is well aware that he stirs up both positive and negative emotions, calling himself “the world’s coolest dictator” and now the “philosopher king” in his X bio .
President Trump has sometimes praised and criticized Boucle. While in the White House, he praised his cooperation with El Salvador’s then-new leader, but after leaving office to focus on immigration, he became a critic of Mr. Boucle, accusing him of sending criminals to become refugees. us.
But Gates seems to be a big fan. He told Time magazine that he considers Bukele a “comrade” and that the two greeted each other warmly when Gates escorted other lawmakers to Bukele’s office during a visit in July. spoke. The visit comes just a month after Gaetz, Donald Trump Jr. and others attended Bukele’s second inauguration.
Gaetz co-founded the El Salvador Congressional Caucus in July with Democratic Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, in an unusual move for bipartisan timing.
In announcing the new group in the House of Representatives, Gaetz said: “Through inspiration from El Salvador’s amazing transformation, America’s great rejuvenation will also become a reality, and we will experience the triumphant return of security and prosperity that once inspired us” in others. ”
As Gates faces interviews and Senate confirmation hearings for the attorney general post, he will be asked to share his thoughts on Bukele’s approach to crime and criminal justice and how it might affect his position as attorney general. There’s a good chance you’ll be asked if there is one. The United States could even offer to try the El Salvador model throughout Latin America. Violence and instability in Latin America are driving many migrants to the relative safety and prosperity of the United States, but there will be strong opposition within and outside these countries.
Last week, the State Department downgraded its travel advisory to El Salvador, citing a “significant decline” in crime, while Bukele’s state of emergency has allowed authorities to “arrest individuals suspected of gang activity and to comply with several constitutional He warned that he could “suspend his rights.”
El Salvador’s president was quick to congratulate Gaetz on his selection as President Trump’s AG nominee, writing to X, “I knew you were destined for great things, my friend.”
