Humiliation as Propaganda: Videos of Shackled Detainees Have History in El Salvador

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March 19, 2025, 4:12 p.m. ET

In a propaganda video released by the government of El Salvador, shackled detainees are forcefully led off planes as drones film overhead.

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Credit...@nayibbukele via X.

The music builds and the men are pushed into armored vehicles and taken to a large prison.

Their heads are shaved and they are moved in organized lines into large cells — all while the camera rolls.

The video features Venezuelan migrants recently deported from the United States, whom U.S. officials accuse of being gang members, according to Salvadoran officials. The clip also shows suspected members of the MS-13 gang, they said. The deportation flights landed in El Salvador despite a federal judge ordering that the planes reverse course and return the detainees to the United States.

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