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Surviving CECOT (full doc) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + @ProPublica
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December 13, 2025
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11:23Now Playing“Surviving CECOT” is a ProPublica production for FRONTLINE in association with Alianza Rebelde Investiga, Cazadores de Fake News and The Texas Tribune. Explore more of ProPublica’s reporting at
The story of three Venezuelan men branded as gang members by the Trump administration and deported to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador notorious for its harsh conditions.
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This short documentary tells the story of three Venezuelan men — Juan José Ramos Ramos, Andry Blanco Bonilla and Wilmer Vega Sandia — who were branded by the U.S. government as Tren de Aragua gang members and deported by the Trump administration to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a prison in El Salvador notorious for its brutal conditions. All three men said they had no connection to Tren de Aragua and were not gang members. In U.S. government data ProPublica obtained, none were flagged as having a criminal conviction or pending charges.
The documentary details what the men say they experienced inside CECOT – beatings, humiliation and abuse – and explores the lasting trauma of the ordeal on them and their families.
The producer for "Surviving CECOT" is Gerardo del Valle. The senior producers are Frank Koughan and Lisa Riordan Seville. Almudena Toral is ProPublica’s executive producer and ProPublica’s editor-in-chief is Stephen Engelberg. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
Explore additional reporting on “Surviving CECOT ” on our website:
#Documentary #Venezuela #ElSalvador #CECOT
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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS.
The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.
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