Latin America Urgently Needs an Alternative to Bukele's Security Plans

[Judi Lynn]

August 7, 2023 3:13PM EDT
Available In
English
Español

Published in:
El País

Juan Pappier
Acting Deputy Director, Americas
@JuanPappierHRW

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is highly undemocratic, highly abusive—and highly popular.

With worrying levels of crime and insecurity in Latin America, his security model threatens democratic institutions in the region. Responding to these challenges requires effective and rights-respecting measures to confront violence and crime.

Recently, Bukele’s allies in the Legislative Assembly passed a law that allows mass trials. Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro said that up to 900 people could be prosecuted at the same time. Under new legislation, prosecutors will not be required to present individual evidence against alleged gang members, lawmakers said. These Kafkaesque trials would undermine access to justice for victims of gang violence, hinder the release of innocent people, and violate due process guarantees.

Security forces have arrested over 71,000 people, including more than 1,600 children, under a state of emergency that has suspended basic rights for almost a year and a half. Many Salvadorans with no connections to gangs have been arrested, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Our research shows that some people detained have been tortured, dozens have died in custody, and thousands have been subjected to inhumane conditions in detention, including extreme overcrowding. Most are held incommunicado.

More:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/07/latin-america-urgently-needs-alternative-bukeles-security-plans

[Judi Lynn]

1. EL SALVADOR'S DANGEROUS DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDE

The world’s “coolest dictator” is imprisoning innocents at rates not seen since the country’s dictatorship and civil war. Solidarity activists are fighting back.

By Margaret Knapke | August 8, 2023

President Nayib Bukele’s regime has arrested nearly 72,000 Salvadorans over the last 16 months for allegedly assisting or belonging to criminal gangs. This includes at least 1,600 children.

It also includes “Teo” (not his real name), a boatman arrested in May 2022 when he declined to give a ride to members of the armed forces. He explained the boat didn’t have sufficient fuel, and his aunt had gone to buy more.

And “Julio” (not his real name), a laborer at a coconut cooperative. In July 2022, a soldier grabbed Julio’s friend — a man with epilepsy and speech difficulties — and asked his name. When he couldn’t speak, Julio explained his friend’s condition. The soldier released the friend — and arrested Julio.

Neither Teo nor Julio had any criminal records. Both are still in custody.

Last year, Bukele said that perhaps 1 percent of these mass arrests were made in error. But members of his own government disclosed that 20 percent of the arrested are likely innocent. And Ingrid Escobar, director of El Salvador’s Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (Humanitarian Legal Assistance), claims that at least 20,000 innocents have been detained.

More:
https://fpif.org/el-salvadors-dangerous-democratic-backslide/