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This Tuesday, July 19, the Congress of El Salvador, with an official majority, approved an extension of this exceptional regime, which has been in force in the Central American nation since the end of March. The measure has generated concern in terms of human rights in the country due to the suspension of constitutional guarantees and the lack of transparency in the arrests, which generated protests and the alert of human rights organizations.
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador gave the green light to the extension of the exceptional regime that has been in force since March 27 under the justification of combating the violence generated by gangs. Thus, the Government, headed by President Nayib Bukele, will have 30 more days of this measure that suspends constitutional controls and grants wide discretion to the Executive Power.
The legislators, with an official majority, as had happened on three previous occasions, approved the fourth extension without further discussion and with 67 votes in favor, out of a total of 87, the government’s request.
The Central American country completed four months in this regime and records more than 46,000 arrests, according to official agencies.
The “war against the gangs” continues
President Bukele has promoted the message through his social networks and public appearances that the “war against the gangs” is being “won” from the reduction in homicide figures in the country.
The Salvadoran Constitution establishes that these exceptions can only be extended for a period of 30 days if the causes that motivated it remain in force. This was the letter that the Government used again.
This Tuesday, July 19, the Minister of Security, Gustavo Villatoro; the director general of the Salvadoran Police, Mauricio Arriaza; and the Minister of Defense, René Merino, presented this request to the Legislature, which was approved a few hours later.
Last March, the trigger for this exceptional regime was gang violence, which left a balance of 87 murdered in less than three days, between the 25th and 27th of that month. Most of these murders, according to the Police version, were not related to any gang.
Likewise, an investigation by the Salvadoran independent media outlet ‘El Faro‘, published last May, revealed audios in which Carlos Marroquín, director of Reconstruction of the Social Fabric and delegate as negotiator with the gangs on behalf of the Government, is heard blaming the Minister of Security and Defense for the uptick in homicides. This medium had previously revealed the existence of negotiations between the government and the gangs.
Here are the audios revealed by ‘El Faro’:
Concerns about arbitrary arrests and prison policy:
Several human rights organizations and civil society sent a letter to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (GTDA) and to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to alert arbitrary detentions, which according to the latest Government announcement, on July 15, already completes 46,100.
The organizations, according to the published letter, have received 2,262 complaints of possible arbitrary arrests by the police and military, including the arrest of at least six community leaders. Most of these, more than 70%, carried out by the Police.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had already referredlast June, to concerns about prison policy, the lack of procedural guarantees and minimum conditions in Salvadoran detention centers.
The IACHR calls on the Salvadoran State to adopt the measures required to reduce overcrowding through the application of alternative measures to the deprivation of liberty, as well as to guarantee decent detention conditions, ensure sufficient and quality food, and guarantee contact with detainees with the outside world through regular calls and visits.
Press release, IACHR, Washington. June 3, 2022
Amnesty International also expressed concern for the arrests: “After being arrested, people are deprived of their liberty and presented at a judicial hearing where most of them are accused of the crime of ‘illegal groups,’ whose sentence ranges from 20 to 30 years in prison.” This organization emphasized “the concern” that the three powers of the State work in coordination to “prosecute thousands of people in a summary, illegal and indiscriminate manner.”
This Tuesday, more than a hundred mothers and relatives of detainees marched from the interior of the country to the capital to demand that the Government put an end to the exception regime as well as that the authorities provide them with information about their relatives.
Will it reach 70 thousand incarcerated?
When the emergency regime began last March, President Bukele he stated in his networks: “We have 70,000 gang members still on the streets,” without providing further evidence.
Since that day, the number of arrests has increased daily and the only way to obtain information about the arrests has been through the social networks of the Salvadoran Police. In these swarm images of detainees from all over the country with alleged crimes of which they are pointed out, without the possibility of exercising a defense by the alleged gang members.
With 30 more days of extension to the state of emergency, it could reach 70,000 arrests before the end of July.
With information from EFE, Reuters and local media
