Human Rights in El Salvador under Bukele’s Government
Since Nayib Bukele came into power on the 1st of June 2019, El Salavador has seen a drastic change in the safety of the country. El Salavdor has come from the world capital for murder into a country safer than Canada. Citizens can move freely in former gang-controlled areas for the first time in decades. Seemingly, Bukele has managed to make fear, extortion, violence, and murder a thing of the past. However, as much as the argument is that country is now free and safe, Human Rights Watch states that it is increasingly a police state, showing a very different side to El Salvador.
Gangs in El Salvador used to rule.
For example, in Cuscatancingo, only a few kilometres north from San Salvador, which is the capital of El Salvador, the MS-13 was the leading gang. They would control everything, from what people wore to how they walked. In addition, the MS-13 are notorious for recruiting children, usually between the ages of 12 and 15. Only a few kilometres further, the Barrio 18 controlled the area, showing constant war and insecurity in these neighbourhoods. Yet, Bukele’s approach seems to have merely transferred power from the gangs to the police. The police are now the ones terrorising the community and the Salvadorans.
There are examples of over 2800 children having been sent to jail since the state of emergency began. Often, these children are being put in tiny, overcrowded cells, where they are at the mercy of gang members, and need to accept violence and abuse at the hand of these gang members and the state. Interestingly, prosecutors in El Salvador do not need to prove that the defendant has committed violent or an unlawful act, they just need to claim ‘unlawful association’ under the ‘war against gangs’, leading to anyone who has interacted with gang members, whether this was willingly or not, to be prosecuted.
Emergency State
This is all possible due to the emergency state that has been announced, allowing for emergency laws who deprive Salvadorans of basic constitutional rights, including the right to the freedom of movement and the right to legal defence, while simultaneously loosening the rules on making arrests. This has led to over 81000 people having been incarcerated since the beginning of the police state in March 2022. The human rights breaches lead El Salvador to have become, paradoxically, the safest state in Latin America. Human Rights Watch has stated that 39000 of the then 61000 people who had been incarcerated were incarcerated for unlawful association. This number is only possible under the emergency state. As mentioned previously, the Salvadoran courts have remained silent, and obeyed Bukele, leading to an infringement of separated power, as the executive, legislature, and judiciary are all under the rule of Bukele. One could ask the question if Salvadorans are now living under a different type of tyranny.
On our episode with Juanita Goebertus Estrada, Dominic and Juanita dive into Human Rights in El Salvador, and whether Nayib Bukele has made the country a safer space. Listen here to find out!
