Amina Al-Sadi
Appearances
Today, Explained
A comedian tries to fix aviation
And we gave the FAA clear marching orders. Hire more air traffic controllers, modernize outdated technology, replace systems that are unsafe or unstable.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
El Salvador says these are people who were known, who... And even the human rights advocates I talked to told me, yeah, yeah, the people who are in El Secod are for sure these criminals. However, when I asked the director of the prison... about people being there without convictions, he looked at me and said, no, no, but these are really bad guys.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
It's almost like the notion of, you know, innocent until proven guilty does not exist in there. And so this is something that...
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
I started to understand a lot better when I spent some time and I interviewed their defense minister and their minister of safety and security, who is the person who is in charge of implementing what's known as this Bukele model, where the defense minister was telling me, in the past, we had to wait for people to commit a crime. Now we arrest them first. So you don't need to show evidence.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
You don't need a warrant. I mean, they just take somebody on suspicion of gang affiliation. There's kind of these mass hearings where people are charged with the crimes of the gang of the organization. And then it's very hard to prove that you're not part of that organization or I also asked how many people have been released who proved that they were innocent.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
And this security and justice minister told me about 8,000 of almost 90,000 who've been detained.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
Yeah, maybe. People get hearings. Part of the issue that somebody brought up is that so many people are incarcerated that there's no way there's enough attorneys to deal with every case. It's just very hard to really get your day in court. So even if there's hope, people spend years before they can plead their case and be released. There seems to be a huge burden
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
on people, on family members to prove somebody's innocence. And the biggest, I think, obstacle that these families who have family members or loved ones imprisoned who claim that they're innocent, the biggest burden I think they have is public opinion, is the overwhelming popularity of this model in El Salvador and really throughout the region.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
I walked the streets with the minister of defense and people were stopping him to take photos, to hug him, to thank him like a celebrity. It felt like I was walking around with, I don't know, some famous singer or something. And people just expressed all of this gratitude.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
It's the opposite of hiding. Nayib Bukele is by profession a marketer. He's a publicist, a PR professional. Before he became president, he is absolutely a marketing genius. He knows everything. how to get to people. And his popularity goes way beyond his own country. So he wants to be a global figure. I think he is a global figure. He has been talking to the GOP directly.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
He has been celebrated by leaders of the Republican Party for a long time. You know, we've seen Matt Gaetz go to El Salvador. We've seen him speak at CPAC.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
He uses every opportunity he can to both export himself as a brand, his security model as a brand, so that his security model and his prison model is sustainable. And this is something he said over and over.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
He offered the U.S. to take in the U.S. 's deportees, to take in the convicted U.S. criminals, and to even take in convicted U.S. citizens in exchange for what he calls a small fee that to El Salvador would signify a big amount.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
I think others will try to emulate it. I also think that there is a lot more communication now with the Trump administration, a lot more recognition of what has happened in El Salvador and potentially an even bigger and expanding cooperation because the rights that have been suspended under the state of exception exist in the U.S. So it's a lot harder. for the U.S.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
to implement the kinds of policies that Bukele implemented. And so it seems like outsourcing of a security system now in terms of deportees, now in terms of immigration, but we'll see where it gets.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
I was inside last month. I wanted to get in and experience for myself what has become the biggest symbol of this tough-and-crime model that Bukele established under a state of exception where certain rights were suspended so that they could carry out these massive detentions. to the point that they've detained around 2% or more than 2% of their population, and by doing so, reducing crime.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
El Salvador is the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world. And of course, that translated to a significant drop in crime. That was my interest. I wanted to see how they did it. I had been asking for over a year and a half to get access to the prison and see how it worked. And finally, they approved the visit in February.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
This is a very different prison. This is probably the most famous prison in the world by now. The images that have emerged from this prison... are the symbol that have gained Nayib Bukele an unparalleled level of popularity, not just in his country, but in the entire region. I have heard from countless different nationalities, we need a Bukele. And
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
When people think of Bukele, they're thinking about this prison.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
You know, when you walk into the prison, it's clear that this is the ultimate maximum security. There are multiple layers of gates. The first thing you notice when you approach the area of the prison, about a mile outside of the prison gates, is that there is a suffocation of communication. Cell phones stop working immediately. you're taken in buses because it's massive.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
And you see dozens of towers with surveillance and everything you can expect from a prison. But the thing that's really striking is just how quiet everything is. The inmates are all within these modules that contain a number of cells inside. Inside each cell, there is anywhere from like 80 to 100 or even more prisoners. But it's all extremely quiet, which...
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
You know, when you think about 80 men, gang members, inside one cell, and you can't hear a thing, that's when you really come to understand the level of force and strength that the guards impose. So there's no communication. There is no visits, ever, ever. No family visits. Those prisoners are within these modules.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
Imagine like a big airplane hangar, and inside those hangars is where the cells are. They never leave the module, so they never see the light outside. There's no outside time. They can only be outside the cell in the hallway that divides all the cells for about 20 to 30 minutes per day. They don't have mattresses. They don't have sheets. They just sleep in these metal cots.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
It's these multiple dozens of bunk beds. And that's where they are all the time. What's striking is that it just feels like these human beings who are in there are stripped outside of their tattoos, of course, because they can't take away the tattoos, but they're stripped of anything that makes them stand apart. It's a mass of shaved heads, all dressed the same.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
Their uniforms, which are all the same, all white. They're wearing Crocs or shoes that are kind of like Crocs. And they're all staring from within the cell outside completely quietly. I asked, why are they so quiet? What happens if they talk? And they said, you'll have a time to talk to somebody. But if they speak out of line, they're going into solitary.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
We are not allowed to interact, to speak to any of the prisoners. They are all staring at us. It's so striking to see them. I only spoke to one prisoner. They only made one prisoner available for me to talk to who spoke English, who said that he was from L.A., and shared a little bit of his experience. Are you going to be here the rest of your life?
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
And he said, you know, you have to act tough, but you can't fight. And at night, he said, you know, you just kind of cry. You cry at night?
Today, Explained
Our trillion-dollar credit card bill
I could put all of my entire paycheck towards paying it off for the entire year, and it would still take me about two years to pay it all off. Plus interest.
Today, Explained
AI Video Killed the Video Star
Absolute soulless shit. Wow. Shit from the butt. Shit from the butt? That's my favorite.