A hard-hitting 60 Minutes investigation into a notorious El Salvador prison was pulled from its scheduled broadcast by CBS at the weekend, only to appear online a day later, sparking accusations of political censorship.
An Investigation Pulled From The Air
The segment, which provides a detailed look inside the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison, was due to air on Sunday, 15 December. However, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss ordered its removal, stating the report “needed additional reporting” and would air later. The decision caused immediate backlash within the network.
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi privately told colleagues the report had been screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and standards officials. “It is factually correct,” Alfonsi wrote. “In my view, pulling it now… is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
Inside ‘The Cemetery of the Living Dead’
The nearly 14-minute segment, which appeared on a Canadian streaming platform on Monday, features stark footage of the Cecot facility. It includes interviews with former detainees who describe systematic abuse.
Luis Munoz Pinto, a Venezuelan college student, recounted being beaten by guards upon arrival. “They beat me until I bled… They knocked our faces against the wall. That was when they broke one of my teeth,” he said. Pinto, who has no criminal record, was arrested in 2024 while seeking asylum in the US.
The report shows hundreds of detainees with shaved heads, housed in overcrowded bunks without pillows or blankets, under 24-hour lighting with no access to clean water. It details a punishment room known as “the island,” a dark, unventilated cell where inmates were beaten regularly.
Juan Pappier of Human Rights Watch featured in the segment, citing an 81-page report that found nearly half the men in Cecot had no criminal history and documented a pattern of “systematic torture.” Alfonsi confirmed 60 Minutes had independently corroborated these claims.
Political Reactions and Fallout
The report contrasts a 2023 US State Department citation of “torture and life threatening prison conditions” in Cecot with footage of former President Donald Trump praising El Salvador’s prison system. It also notes that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not speak to detainees during a visit.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren shared the leaked video online, urging people to “watch what they didn’t want you to see.”
The controversy occurs amid public tension between 60 Minutes and the Trump administration. On 16 December, Trump criticised the programme on Truth Social, claiming it had treated him “far worse” since the network’s takeover by a consortium including billionaire Larry Ellison. Ellison’s Skydance Media acquired Paramount Global this year and later purchased Weiss’s outlet, The Free Press, before appointing her to lead CBS News editorial.
CBS has not responded to requests for comment on the leaked segment.
