"I have killed more than 30 people"

-What did you do to be here?

-I'm the founder of the "clika", Crazy Criminal, and I’ve killed a lot of people.

-How many people?

-About 30 people.

-30 people?

-When I grew up in the United States, I grew up in a gang environment, but I joined the gang around 2003 or 2004. I was around 20 years old because at 18, the rivals shot my mother when I was younger. So I held a grudge against the other gang.

-Do you regret anything?

-Being in a maximum-security prison, where you're only given the basics, what the law requires. And I know I won’t get out of here. Honestly, no one wants to be in this situation we're in, but truthfully, that’s how gang life is. That’s how it is, you live life, that’s our life day to day.

-If you could go back in time, would you do the same?

-If I could tell the youth today to change their way of thinking, since today they live in a country free of gangs, I would tell them not to choose the path that I chose.

-If "CECOT" didn’t exist, would you do the same thing?

-Maybe yes, I would do it again. One knows this is a maximum-security prison. You know there’s no hope anymore for many of us, but the truth is that’s how humans are when they’re given a bit of freedom. They abuse trust or, as I say, I’m already a gang member, I already know. I grew up like this from a young age, I started getting locked up, this has been my life. But today, there are people—young people—I know who don’t know this life, but here it's blood in, blood out. So that’s how gang life is. You want freedom and you start to reflect in your bunk, lying there, and start crying, you reflect and say, “Hey, this life that I’ve lived is not the good one. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” But remember, I’m already in here.

-Did you know the people you killed? Do you know their names, anything about them?

-No, we just knew they were rivals or that somehow they had done wrong. But you kill innocent people too. A bit of everything. Remember that those who don’t want to join up just bring serious consequences against us.

-How many years left on your sentence?

-Well, they gave me 100 years, I don’t think I’ll ever get out.