Three days earlier, I met with a lifelong brother and fixer, Edwin Cerritos, who took me to a street in the Mejicanos area where members of Barrio 18 doused a microbus with gasoline, set it ablaze with passengers inside, and gunned down those who tried to escape with automatic weapons.
This event, known as the Route 47 Massacre, occurred during the administration of leftist President Mauricio Funes and marked a turning point when Barrio 18 was designated as a terrorist organization.
Thanks to a local journalist, I was able to meet with Ms. Marcela Alvarado Noria, a farmer and mother of Duval Mata Alvarado, who is currently detained at CECOT.
Despite receiving two release orders from judges, his case remains suspended in legal limbo, as correctional officers appear to wield more authority than judicial decisions.
As Orlando Ruiz said in a private conversation, what I filmed will never do justice to what I saw with my own eyes, what I sensed in the surroundings, or what I smelled in that place.
This design—this dynamic between inmate and guard, both imprisoned in their relationship—revealed something deeper about humanity to me: how messy and chaotic it truly is. More questions remain, let’s see what the future brings.
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