IRTF News

Once again, the five prominent Water Defenders who faced politically-motivated charges have been declared innocent — and they should never have been arrested. International Allies against Mining in El Salvador calls upon the SalvadoranAttorney General to abstain from further legal action and demands that allcivil liabilities are dropped...

On September 22, 18 members of the US House of Representatives from across ten states and the District of Columbia (all Democrats) sent a letter to US Secretary of State Rubio and US Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, urging them to address the horrific conditions in the prisons in El Salvador and to stop deporting migrants from the US to El Salvador.

“These prison conditions represent not only cruelty that threatens human dignity, but also serious violations by El Salvador of its obligations under international human rights law,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter. “Moreover, the United States, as party to the Convention Against Torture, is obligated to not send a person to a country where there are ‘substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.’”

In Cleveland, OH, the InterReligious Task Force on Central America mobilized to collect almost 100 signatures on a petition to the Ohio congressional delegation, urging them to support this urgent human rights initiative. Regrettably, none of the US House representatives  from districts in Ohio added their names before the September 19 deadline.

In 2022, Bukele's government declared a State of Emergency and suspended key constitutional rights and due process. Almost 90,000 Salvadorans (including political prisoners) are being held in indefinite pretrial detention, cut off from contact with their families or attorneys. Early this year, the US president paid Bukele 4.7 million to illegally deport almost 300 Salvadorans and Venezuelans to the infamous CECOT mega prison where they faced torture and other serious abuses. It is documented that at least 435 people have died in custody over the past three years. Outside of the prisons, youth in El Salvador have denounced torture and arbitrary arrest at the hands of soldiers during "military enclosures" of their communities. The cozy relationship between the two presidents is an affront to international human rights standards.  

The Bukele regime is now ramping up persecution against environmental defenders, human rights defenders, journalists and attorneys who have exposed and denounced the mass incarceration and abuses the prisons. We at IRTF will therefore continue to urge our legislators to:.

1) call for investigations into the prison conditions and an end to the rendition of any immigrants to Salvadoran prisons  

2) take action to protect Salvadoran immigrants and asylum seekers from being deported, given widespread and ongoing arbitrary detention into deadly prison conditions where they would face the risk of torture

3) support the demands of Salvadoran families of the victims of the Bukele crackdown, including a) the immediate release of people for whom the State has not proven guilt; b) the rejection of mass trials and call for immediate and individualized proceedings to ensure adequate legal defense; and c) an end to the “State of Exception,” which has suspended many constitutional protections in El Salvador since 2022 

If you would like to circulate copies of the petition, please contact irtf@irtfcleveland.org

See full text of the congressional letter here:

https://mcgovern.house.gov/uploadedfiles/house_letter_el_salvador_prison_conditions_250922.pdf

A vehicle blocked their car, and its passengers stepped out with their weapons, trying to attack the group. They managed to escape, but the incident was not the first – nor would it be the last time Bertha Zúñiga would face a violent threat.

That encounter came just over a year after Zúñiga’s mother, Berta Cáceres, a prominent Lenca Indigenous rights activist in Honduras, was killed in her home in March 2016, leading to Zúñiga taking the leadership of her group, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

Zúñiga was a toddler when her mother started the group to defend indigenous Lenca land from commercial interests that local communities say harm and exploit it.

Bertha Zúñiga continues the fight that her mother began against powerful corporate and political interests. Facing death threats, smear campaigns, and even state security leaks, Zúñiga leads COPINH in defending Lenca land and water from destructive projects—undaunted by the risks that cost her mother’s life.

“Year after year, land and environmental defenders – those protecting our forests, rivers, and lands across the world – continue to be met with unspeakable violence. They are being hunted, harassed, and killed – not for breaking laws, but for defending life itself.

- Laura Furones (Global Witness lead author)

Global Witness documented 117 defender killings last year (82%) in Latin America, with 48 in Colombia, which had the most killings globally for the third year in a row. This is followed by Guatemala, where 20 defenders were killed in 2024 – up from four in 2023.

On El Salvador’s Independence Day, about 1,500 activists marched in San Salvador demanding the release of political prisoners and denouncing arbitrary arrests under President Bukele’s gang crackdown. The event highlighted tensions between the government’s tough security policies and human rights concerns that affect daily life for locals and visitors alike.