The government of Nayib Bukele has been committing widespread human rights violations in El Salvador since it adopted, in March, an exceptional regime to contain a wave of violence by gangs and drug traffickers. The conclusion is part of a report by the NGO Human Rights Watch, made in partnership with the Salvadoran NGO Cristosal, released this Wednesday (7).
The document, under the title “We can detain whoever we want”, a phrase taken from a speech by Bukele, points out that since the beginning of the state of emergency, hundreds of operations have already been carried out, resulting in more than 58,000 arrests, including those of 1,600 minors. deity.
Among human rights violations, the text highlights massive arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, deaths in police custody and abusive criminal proceedings. The phenomenon, says the text, is a direct result of “the dismantling of the judicial system, now dependent on the Executive, carried out since Bukele came to power”, in 2019.
“The Salvadoran security forces committed widespread human rights violations in vulnerable communities with the alleged aim of ensuring their safety,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas Director at HRW. “To put an end to criminal groups and abuses, the government should replace the exceptional regime with an effective security policy that respects human rights, which guarantees Salvadorans the security they so richly deserve.”
Conducted between March and November, the survey on which the report was based heard more than 1,100 people in 14 departments across the country, including victims, family members, lawyers, witnesses and State officials. By examining legal and medical documents, researchers concluded that police and soldiers repeatedly committed similar abuses across the country.
They also recorded that, in his speeches, Bukele expresses full support for prisons and encourages abuse. The agents would even have a target number of victims to arrest and mistreat per day. Judges, in turn, would be pressured not to investigate these reports.
The analysis of cases led the NGOs to conclude that many of the detainees have no connection with criminal activities, but were considered suspicious because they live in these vulnerable neighborhoods where the operations are concentrated.
In penitentiaries, which do not have the capacity for the number of prisoners that accumulate each day, reports indicate that it is not possible to talk or pray; anyone who disrespects the orders is the target of repression with, for example, the release of tear gas.
Relatives complain that the government’s practice of moving detainees to prison or cell, to prevent them from having close contact with other suspects, means that many do not know where their relatives are. For HRW, the measure represents a forced disappearance under international law.
The document dedicates a section to the way, considered irregular, in which judgments have been carried out. The most common is that of collective hearings, which can judge 500 detainees at once.
The Salvadoran prison population increased from 39,000 people in March this year to 95,000 in November. In the same period, 90 people died in state custody.
The state of emergency was initially declared on March 27, in response to an escalation of violence that ended with 87 murders in one weekend. It allows, among other things, warrantless arrests, limitations on meetings and restrictions on telecommunications, and has since been extended by the unicameral Congress; last time, parliamentarians extended the measure until the middle of this month.
At the end of November, Bukele announced the fifth phase of a government security plan, called Territorial Control, within this exceptional regime. The measure provides for a kind of security cordon in different cities, formed by police and military, in order to surround and arrest gang members.
The two NGOs point out that these measures have not been working in the fight against gangs, which began to spread precisely in the prison environment. The entities call for investments in prevention and reintegration policies, as well as in strategies to combat the parallel economy —of drug trafficking and extortion— that maintains criminal groups.
“The Bukele government and the Assembly should take sustainable steps, which ensure respect for human rights, to dismantle gangs and protect the population from their abuses”, says the report. “This includes addressing structural causes of violence, such as high levels of poverty and social exclusion, and driving strategic prosecutions focused on prosecuting gang leaders and investigating violent offenses.”
The organizations also ask the United States and the European Union to work together with other governments, especially in Latin America, to increase international attention to the situation in El Salvador. They also encourage support for independent journalists so that they can report on abuses taking place in the country.
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