The scrutiny that human rights organizations exercise on the government of El Salvador and its controversial security measure, the exception regimeis the main reason why civil organizations denounce the capture of 26 activists and human rights defenders until March 13 of this year.
The human rights organization Cristosal, which has followed up on these cases, recently published the investigation “Civil society on alert: investigation into impacts on the right of association”which also includes 71 testimonies from organizations that report violations of the rights of participation, expression and association in El Salvador.
Although the security policy of the Central American country has swept away the scourge of gangs in the neighborhoods, it has also left in its wake signs of serious human rights violationsnot only against civil society but against society organized in groups.
“The main violator of the rights of free expression, participation and association is the State, which in reality should be the guarantor and enhancer of the synergistic work of organizations,” Cristosal points out in his report.
María Verónica Delgado has experienced firsthand the persecution that the organizations denounce: on March 11, several police officers came to her house and arrested her for allegedly collaborating with gangs. The woman, who was searching for her daughter who had been missing since May 2022, had joined the organization Search Block for Missing Persons from where he fought.
“The searching mother,” as Delgado is called by civil organizations, carried a sign in her hand with the photograph of her missing daughter Paola Arana on March 9, when the streets of the Salvadoran capital commemorated the International Day of Human Rights in a march. Women. Two days later, Delgado was captured.
“You imagine that your daughter disappears, you look for her, the police don't tell you anything about her whereabouts. You tell it on networks and in the media, and two days later they take you to prison for having reported that the police are not looking for her. No to the criminalization of the mothers who are looking for her! “said the Salvadoran Network of Human Rights Defenders in a statement. .
Given Delgado's arrest, several civil organizations issued an urgent alert regarding what they consider a violation of their right to search and defend human rights. A notice to which Amnesty International joined.
Similarly, a team of six environmentalists were detained in the mountainous department of Cabañas 14 months ago. The Prosecutor's Office accuses them of homicide, illicit associations and deprivation of liberty during the Salvadoran civil war that occurred between 1972 and 1992.
Environmentalists belong to the Social Economic Development Association (Ades) that organizes resistance blocks against mining and in favor of the right to water. An organization that points out that behind the captures is the intention to reverse the ban on mining, in force in El Salvador since 2017.
“There has been a clear use of transitional justice to persecute our colleagues. They have not even been able to present sufficient evidence to make the process viable,” Alfredo Leiva, a Salvadoran activist, told local media. The defenders remain imprisoned.
The capture is the most serious violation that human rights defenders claim to have faced in El Salvador. However, they also report other violations such as harassment, censorship, blockades and other patterns of threats from the State.
Marvin Reyes is a former Salvadoran police officer who today leads the Police Workers Movement, an organization that defends the labor rights of officers.
Due to his knowledge of the institution, Reyes has denounced the alleged excesses committed by the Salvadoran State in the name of the emergency regime. Among these, a quota of detainees that the government imposed on each police officer when the measure began.
In October 2023, a group of police officers tried to take Reyes to a police station to expand on a complaint he had made on social media about acts of corruption in a capital station. Reyes did not accompany them and reported the incident.
“Dark forces within the police themselves want to silence me and tried to trick me into the police station and capture me by applying the regime. This is a clear persecution of dissident voices that point out aspects of corruption by institutions that have to do with public security,” Reyes said after the incident.
In addition to what has been stated, Cristosal's investigation exposes police and military harassment in the peaceful demonstrations or protests they carry out, accompanied by eventual blockades of transport units that take people to these activities.
They also point out legal, fiscal and bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining legal status.
Bukele and human rights
For Amnesty International, Bukele's re-election in El Salvador could consolidate the deterioration in respect and protection of human rights.
“We have already seen in the region the serious consequences of the lack of coordinated, timely and forceful action by the international community against these repressive models, not only in El Salvador, but throughout the region,” the organization noted on February 5. last, a day after Bukele was re-elected as president.
Although the Salvadoran government has not closed operations of civil organizations as has happened in Nicaragua, they see an adverse scenario for the following years.
Bukele has publicly criticized those who criticize his policies against gang members, including members of the international community:
“Let all human rights NGOs know that we are going to destroy these damned murderers and their collaborators, we will put them in prison and they will never come out. We do not care about their pitiful reports, their prepaid journalists, their puppet politicians, nor their famous community international, which never cared about our people,” he said in May 2023.
Bukele entered the Executive branch in June 2019 after having won the presidential election against the traditional parties ARENA and FMLN. In 2021, the victory of his New Ideas party in the legislative elections allowed him to have a comfortable majority in Congress from where he has promoted several policies against the organizations.
In May 2021, Congress created the Special Commission to investigate funds awarded to nonprofit organizations, associations, and foundations. Six months later, the proposed Foreign Agents Law was submitted for discussion, which sought to impose a 40% tax on the income of organizations. The law was not approved.
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