By: Staff Writer
June 6, 2023
President Nayib Bukele has brutally crushed most of the criminals gangs in El Salvador, with many of its citizens in favour of the harsh crackdown and extreme measures taken to clean up the streets. Opponents have said that the crackdown is too costly as foreigners- many of them American citizens- have been caught in the nationwide sweep.
It has been commonly reported that Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been struggling with controlling dangerous criminal gangs like the MA-13, who have become notoriously violent as they have grown in sophistication, moving back and forth between Central America and the United States with ease. Making things worse is now that many of these MS-13 members are either now being born in the United States to immigrant parents or are obtaining legal status in the US.
Notwithstanding the international human rights concerns over the legality of these persons, the crackdown continues unabated.
The repeated extension of the state of emergency in El Salvador – which has now been in force since March 2022 – is seriously concerning, especially given the consequences for people’s human rights.
We recognise the complex challenge El Salvador faces in tackling criminality, as well as the grave suffering inflicted by the country’s gangs, which for decades have murdered, raped, robbed and extorted the population.
However, weakening the rule of law and the integrity of the legal system by derogating from fair trial rights is not the answer.
At least 68,000 people have been jailed in El Salvador since the state of emergency came into force. Of these, at least 1,600 people are under 18 years of age.
According to a recent report by a leading NGO (Cristosal), at least 153 inmates have died in prison since the state of emergency was implemented – nearly half of them violently.
The human cost of El Salvador’s controversial “war on gangs” has been laid bare in a new report which claims dozens of prisoners were tortured and killed in jail after being caught up in the year-long security crackdown.
The detailed 107-page report from human rights group Cristosal said at least 153 people had died in custody after being arrested as part of President Nayib Bukele’s year-long offensive against the Central American country’s notorious “pandillas”.
Government prison security officers stand guard inside a prison intended to house 40,000 alleged gang members, in a secluded rural area in a valley near Tecoluca, on 2 February.
The NGO said it had confirmed 29 of those fatalities as violent deaths and another 46 were considered suspicious. In most of those 75 cases, Cristosal said the bodies of the victims showed signs of torture, beatings or strangulation. Other dead inmates also showed signs of injuries but were classified as having died of “undetermined” or “natural” causes meaning the true number of violent deaths could be higher.
Authorities have reportedly insisted that all the prison deaths resulted from natural causes and withheld additional information.
The grisly deaths point to brutal punishments meted out by prison guards and officials, Cristosal said, suggesting they could only have taken place with approval from the highest levels of government.
El Salvador prisons
Prisoners are moved to the Terrorist Confinement Center mega-prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 15 (Photo by Handout/Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images ) Presidencia El Salvador via Getty
“The massive and systemic violations are now a state policy,” Cristosal director Noah Bullock told El País.
“The suspension of rights and militarization is not an exception anymore, but a norm that affects the lives of all Salvadorans.”
President Nayib Bukele launched a “war on gangs” after El Salvador recorded 62 deaths in one day, making it the bloodiest since the country’s civil war ended in 1992.
The Legislative Assembly, controlled by Bukele’s right-leaning populist party, declared a state of emergency and suspended some constitutional rights, including guaranteed access to defence lawyers.
Bukele touted a drop in murders but within about two months, Reuters reported that dozens of innocent people had been locked up by officers forced to meet daily arrest quotas.
As politicians from Mexico to Guatemala vow to emulate Mr. Bukele’s iron-fisted approach, critics have grown concerned that the country could become a model for a dangerous bargain: sacrificing civil liberties for safety.
“I remain incredibly pessimistic about what this means for the future of democracy in the region,” said Christine Wade, an El Salvador expert at Washington College in Maryland. “Therisk is that this becomes a popular model for other politicians to say, ‘Well, we could be providing you more security in exchange for you giving up some of your rights.’”
The Salvadoran government has arrested more than 65,000 people over the last year, including children as young as 12, more than doubling the total prison population. By the government’s own count, more than 5,000 people with no connection to gangs were put behind bars and eventually released. At least 90 people died in custody, the government has said.