Costa Rica has opened a large prison modeled on El Salvador's notorious mega-prison known as CECOT.
The government held an opening ceremony for the Center for Addressing Organized Crime, or Cacco, in San Rafael de Alajuela on the 14th, according to local daily La Nacion and Agence France-Presse on the 15th.
The facility covers 31,000 square meters and can hold up to 5,100 inmates across five units, each with capacity for 1,020. Prisoners wear orange uniforms and are allowed outdoors for only one hour a day. Visits are tightly restricted.
Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez said at the ceremony that she was sending "a big and heartfelt embrace to our sister nation El Salvador, which has played a decisive role in the fight against crime, and to President Nayib Bukele, who supported us in making this project a reality."
Right-leaning governments across Latin America, long plagued by drug-related organized crime, have been spurred by El Salvador's results to build mega-prisons of their own. Ecuador is constructing a facility for 15,000 inmates, while the Peruvian government led by Keiko Fujimori is weighing plans for a large prison to house members of drug cartels.
CECOT, the world's largest prison, has helped sharply lower El Salvador's crime rate but has also drawn criticism as a human rights blind spot. Bukele has detained more than 90,000 people as suspected gang members since declaring a state of emergency in 2022. Human rights groups estimate that a third of them are innocent.
Facing mounting international criticism, Bukele signaled on the 14th that he could release a large number of inmates. He said 50% of those held could be eligible for pardons and that a commission would review each case. He stressed, however, that the state of emergency would remain in place until all terrorists are arrested.