60 Minutes Segment on El Salvador's Cecot Prisons Surfaces Online After Being Pulled from CBS Broadcast
A 60 Minutes segment focused on El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison has appeared online after CBS withdrew the episode from its scheduled broadcast. The approximately 14-minute piece is now available on a Global TV Canada platform.
CBS stated that the episode required additional reporting and would be aired in a future broadcast. Bari Weiss noted that stories are held back when they are not yet ready, while 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi revealed in an internal note that the decision to pull the episode was political.
The segment includes testimonies from detainees, such as Luis Munoz Pinto, a Venezuelan student with no criminal record, who recounted guards beating detainees and being told he would never see the light of day. The episode highlights harsh prison conditions, documenting beatings by guards, a punishment area referred to as "the island," overcrowded bunks without pillows or blankets, 24-hour lighting, and lack of access to clean water.
Human Rights Watch deputy director Juan Pappier discusses an 81-page report revealing a pattern of systematic torture at Cecot and that many detainees were held without criminal histories. The 60 Minutes segment independently corroborated these Human Rights Watch claims.
The episode references a 2023 U.S. State Department report on torture and includes political commentary about El Salvador's prison system. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Salvadoran government declined to comment during the segment. Senator Elizabeth Warren shared the episode online, increasing its visibility.
