'Welcome to hell': Freed migrants tell of horrors in Salvadoran jail

Mervin Yamarte was one of 252 Venezuelans detained in US President Donald Trump's March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. According to four ex-detainees interviewed by AFP, the months were marked by abuse, violence, spoiled food and legal limbo. All 252 detainees were suddenly, and unexpectedly, freed on 18 July in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. Several men believe they were arrested in the United States simply for sporting tattoos wrongly interpreted as proof of association with the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Now, many are contemplating legal action.