A man sent to El Salvador’s notorious maximum-security prison, CECOT, under a Trump-era deportation policy has shared shocking details of his time behind bars. The facility, described as “the worst prison on Earth,” was built by President Nayib Bukele to hold 40,000 of the country’s most dangerous criminals.
Arturo Suarez, a 34-year-old aspiring singer with no criminal record, was arrested in North Carolina while filming a music video. Authorities accused him of being in the Tren de Aragua gang based on his 33 tattoos. He was deported and imprisoned in CECOT, where he spent nearly five months before being freed in a prisoner swap.
“We were constantly beaten,” Suarez told *Sky News*. “We suffered physical, verbal, and psychological abuse… the head of the prison said, ‘welcome to hell.’”
Conditions were brutal. “We were sleeping 19 people to a cell… if we spoke loudly or bathed more than once, they took our mattresses,” he said. “They tried to take our humanity away from us.”
Now free, Suarez lives with family in Venezuela, while his wife and baby remain in Chile. His story raises serious concerns about wrongful deportations and prison abuse.
