State of emergency in El Salvador | Bukele is turning El Salvador into an unjust state

Standing guard for the operation to arrest gang members on October 28, 2024 in San Marcos, El Salvador Photo: AFP/Marvin Recinos Samuel Ramírez was as surprised by Nayib Bukele's statements as El Salvador's human rights scene. “The president spontaneously responded to a question from a journalist on October 13th and revealed that thousands of Maras accomplices should be released from prison,” Ramírez told “nd”.

Bukele's announcement also comes as a surprise to observers because in recent months Bukele has been touting his security concept and his concepts of large prisons as a model in various, especially right-wing and ultra-right governments.

Ramírez is the coordinator of the “Movement for the Victims of the State of Emergency (Movir)” and is committed to human rights and a transparent justice system. Things are looking bad for both, since, according to official sources, 93,000 people have been arrested and imprisoned since the state of emergency was declared in March 2022. Many of them are suspected of having worked for the two criminal gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. The two gangs have long since mutated into criminal networks in the region and individual mareros, as the gang members are called, are said to have already been released from prison and are once again causing mischief in their respective home communities. This emerges from statements and warnings on social networks, says Ramírez.

Ramírez believes it is possible that people who have committed particularly serious crimes could also be released. »I have little trust in the judiciary. It has too few staff, low budgets and a commission to examine the cases should have both," he says, and he is not alone in this.

Human rights organizations such as Cristosal or FESPAD and many lawyers of both sexes criticize the precarious legal structures and demand that the innocent, estimated at 30,000, should be released first. But the president didn't talk about that. Just from the potential release of Mara helpers with minor crimes - that could also be tens of thousands.

The president, who has been in power under a state of emergency since March 2022, has not said a word about the numerous people who have died in custody. »We have documented dozens of cases in which people died due to violence behind bars and a lack of medical care. When will the state admit its responsibility?" asks Ramírez.

A prominent prisoner is Cristosal lawyer Ruth López. The lawyer, who did not shy away from pointing out corruption in the presidential family, has been in prison for a good 17 months - despite international protests. There are still no formal charges with the opening of regular main proceedings. López, who was visited in prison a few weeks ago by SPD Bundestag member Frank Schwabe, is demanding a public hearing. "But they are denying her justice," says Abraham Ábrego, director of Cristosal, who is in exile with his organization in Guatemala City. He believes that the strategy of releasing thousands of prisoners could also be an election strategy. "Nayib Bukele will want to do something for his image abroad," suspects Ábrego.

The declaration of the state of emergency has been automatically extended monthly by parliamentary resolution since March 2022. In addition, there have been changes to the constitution and the penal code that contradict international standards, criticizes Ábrego. This includes constitutional reform, which enables the incumbent president to run for the highest state office for the third time, but also the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years. This also by no means corresponds to international standards. With Washington's support, Nayib Bukele is ignoring this. Abrego says he is carrying out “chemotherapy” against organized crime in El Salvador. Bukele has not yet been able to conclusively explain why the state of emergency still applies despite the falling number of murders. The same applies to his family's increasing wealth.

This article cost you nothing. Us: research, production and technology. We saved on office rent as well as on printing and distribution. And we gave up salary. Nevertheless, the calculation doesn't work without you. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year. You pay what you can, in return we keep writing.

No paywall, no small print, just one goal: that nd stays.