Propaganda Video Released by El Salvador’s Government
In a recent propaganda video from the El Salvador government, detainees, restrained in shackles, are seen being forcibly led off airplanes while drones capture the scene from above.
Transfers to Prison
As suspenseful music plays, the men are pushed into armored vehicles and taken to a large prison facility. Their heads are shaved, and they are organized into lines as they are moved into spacious cells, all under the watchful lens of the camera.
Context of the Detainees
The video showcases Venezuelan migrants who were deported from the United States, with Salvadoran officials labeling them as gang members. It also depicts suspected MS-13 gang members. Despite a federal judge’s order for the aircraft to return to the U.S. with the detainees, the deportation flights still landed in El Salvador.
Public Response to the Video
Released on a Sunday morning by President Nayib Bukele, the three-minute video garnered nearly 39 million views within three days on social media and received extensive airtime on cable news. Although the U.S. government did not provide the footage, its raw portrayal of detained migrants amid American deportation procedures is quite rare.
Continued Use of Similar Footage
This kind of video representation is not unfamiliar in El Salvador. President Bukele, a former publicist elected in 2019, has made the prosecution and imprisonment of national gangs a major focus of his administration. He has publicly showcased his tough stance on gang violence by releasing well-produced videos of arrests and imprisonments.
Concerns Over Human Rights
Human Rights Watch’s Americas division director, Juanita Goebertus Estrada, criticized the video’s intentions, stating that it aims to humiliate and dehumanize the detained individuals. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has remained largely silent about the accused detainees, claiming such videos demonstrate their commitment to curbing illegal immigration.
Further Developments
Recently, the Biden administration announced that El Salvador would receive $6 million in exchange for accepting deportees, many of whom were alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua. The administration’s tactics and the video releases aimed at showcasing immigrant arrests have become increasingly direct and aggressive, particularly under anti-immigration campaigns.
