US travel alert to El Salvador generates reactions

SAN SALVADOR – The US State Department on Wednesday warned US citizens planning to travel to El Salvador to reconsider doing so because prison conditions in the Central American country “are harsh.”

“Prison conditions are harsh. Numerous US citizens and other foreigners have been detained under the State of Exception, some in an allegedly arbitrary manner,” the alert added.

At the end of March 2022, the Congress of El Salvador declared a national emergency regime in response to an increase in homicides committed by gangs. Since then, around 64,000 people have been captured, accused of belonging to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and Barrio 18.

The emergency regime grants Salvadoran authorities the power to detain any person suspected of gang activity, and also suspends various constitutional rights, including criminal proceedings without delay.

Already on Thursday, President Nayib Bukele, who has made the fight against gangs the main priority of his government, took to social media to question Washington’s criteria.

“It has been shown that the United States government imprisons proven innocents; and at the same time it expresses its concern that we put proven criminals in jail,” Bukele said.

The State Department alert adds that, although there has been a significant reduction in gang-related activity, “violent crime continues to be a concern in large parts of the country.”

“Crime rates vary between departments and municipalities, and areas with higher crime rates are often located very close to areas with lower crime,” he adds.

The State Department also maintains that local authorities “may lack the resources to effectively respond to serious criminal incidents.”

reactions

For the expert in international relations and foreign policy, Napoleón Campos, any travel alert is a sovereign instrument, of each country, to take care of its citizens in the rest of the world.

“The alerts are migratory and legally circumstantial. Now a travel alert has been issued by the Biden administration for its citizens in relation to El Salvador, and in this sense, it is striking that the United States indicates that they have already been detained citizens of the United States and other foreigners under the state of emergency,” Campos told the voice of america.

Likewise, the Salvadoran lawyer, Wilson Sandoval, explains to the VOA that the alert means, among other things, that “the international community recognizes an arbitrariness in the detentions in El Salvador”

“This is a warning that not only foreigners who come to El Salvador should take, but also compatriots who are living in different circumstances, arbitrary, illegal measures and without the possibility of defending themselves,” he points out.

For the Salvadoran government, the measures adopted in the emergency regime have managed to reduce homicidal violence to levels not seen in years.

According to Security authorities, as long as the government fails to capture at least 118,000 gang members, the emergency regime will continue.

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