El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has agreed to take in criminals of any nationality, including violent criminals from the U.S. says Secretary of State, Marco Rubio .
“Bukele has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the U.S. who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, and house them in his jails.’’
Rubio said this following a meeting with the Salvadorean leader on Tuesday.
Rubio added that Bukele also “offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents.
“No country’s ever made an offer of friendship such as this,’’ Rubio said.
Bukele said in a post on social media platform X that he offered the U.S. the chance to outsource part of its prison system.
“We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.
“The fee will be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,’’ Bukele said.
Bukele in June won a second term as president.
His successful but controversial crackdown on criminal gangs that had terrorised the Central American country for decades is seen as key to his electoral success, as crime fell, Bukele’s popularity soared.
Activists denounce arbitrary arrests and other human rights violations.
The country of some six million people has the highest murder rate in the world a few years ago but since the crackdown the number had dropped significantly
The issue of migration played a central role in Rubio’s trip to Central America.
He visited Panama over the weekend. After his visit to El Salvador, Rubio would travel on to Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. (dpa/NAN)
