Nayib Bukele won’t stand for anybody criticizing his national policies. The El Salvadorian President took to social media to express his wish to send prisoners to Paris Fashion Week. The comment came after a designer criticized the country’s high-security prison during his fashion show.
Willy Chavarria’s recent Paris Fashion Week show paid a tribute to the individuals being imprisoned in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot). 35 models that walked the show donned white T-shirts and shorts. The clothes were made in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The clothes in the Mexican-American designer’s collection were identical to what the inmates at Cecot wear. At some point in the show, the models got on the runway and knelt with their heads bent down. The scene was a reenactment of the photos taken at the high-security prison.
Some clothes in the collection also had the ‘America’ emblazoned on them upside down. Fashion critics have noted how the design could be the designer’s way of criticizing the country for moving backward.
The President of El Salvador took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to clap back at the designer. “We’re ready to ship them all to Paris whenever we get the green light from the French government,” Bukele’s post read.
#29Jun | Bukele crítica la Semana de la Moda de París 🇫🇷 por “glorificar a criminales” con desfile que simula a presos del Cecot
El diseñador Willy Chavarría, de origen mexicano y nacido en EE UU, presentó el viernes en París un desfile en el que se arrodillaron varios hombres… pic.twitter.com/NshkiDgZqc
— El Nacional (@ElNacionalWeb) June 30, 2025
The President’s press team noted that his response was a “firm stance against the attempt to glorify criminality.” On the other hand, Chavarria’s Spring 2026 show invitations were replicas of immigration summons. The invitations contained the phrase “right to exist” and asked show attendees to be present for the “presentation of humanity.”
Cecot has been criticised for its inhumane treatment of the inmates present there. The mega prison is built to accommodate 40,000 inmates. Each cell in the prison can hold 65 to 70 prisoners, according to a report from PBS News.
Criminals who are suspected of being gang members are imprisoned in the center. Increased numbers of arrests were observed after the government declared a state of emergency. The authorities started arresting gang members after a sudden spike in murders and violent crimes in 2022.
A 2023 report claimed that the homicide rate in the country went down by 70 percent in the following year. Human Rights Watch, which is an international non-governmental organization, is one of the many NGOs that have spoken up against Cecot.
TRUMP: “When they go to the prison in El Salvador they don’t get out.”
He brags those they sent to the CECOT mega prison are there for life (or death) — the vast majority had committed no crimes. pic.twitter.com/qhy0hEF3sv
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) June 28, 2025
The NGO claims that the inmates’ requests to get in touch with their relatives or even a lawyer were denied by the government. A report also claims that the prisoners are allowed to leave their cells for only half an hour every day.
Notably, the U.S government has sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to CEcot after deporting them. The Trump administration reportedly paid the El Salvadorian government millions of dollars to hold the migrants in the cells. The U.S. government accused these Venezuelan nationals of being gang members of Tren de Aragua.
