Anti-Militarism: News & Updates

A new Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report confirms that 252 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in early 2025 were systematically tortured inside the CECOT mega-prison. Nearly half had no criminal record, and many were asylum seekers with pending cases. Former detainees described daily beatings, torture in punishment cells, sexual violence, psychological abuse, and months of enforced disappearance, as both U.S. and Salvadoran authorities concealed their whereabouts. Conditions violated multiple international human rights standards, and the U.S. government paid El Salvador to detain them despite knowing the risks. The findings underscore severe violations of non-refoulement obligations and highlight U.S. complicity in torture.

In this article Rory Fanning, former US Ranger, describes how ICE is acting like a military occupation force.

"Similar to the way that I terrorized Afghan villages during my time in the military following 9/11, ICE has been terrorizing my town." 

"If you are carrying a weapon on behalf of the federal government in 2025, you are the opposite of a hero."

Thank you to all who gathered with IRTF on November 9 for our annual commemoration event to mark the 45th anniversary of the sacrifice of four US women missioners in El Salvador. In response to that horrific tragedy, people of faith and conscience in Cleveland founded IRTF as a way to carry forward their legacy—taking action in solidarity with oppressed and marginalized communities as they struggle for peace, dignity, and justice.

IRTF board and staff wishes to thank all the volunteers who helped us set up, decorate, run the event and pack up at the end of the night, Pilgrim Church for hosting us, the kitchen staff at Guanaquitas pupsería for preparing our dinner, Megan Wilson-Reitz for coordinating our social hour (and the many kitchen volunteers!), Salim and Lucía for coordinating our raffle/auction, Pastor Jay for running the tech, and all who participated in the service and speaker program.

To our 46 co-sponsors: Thank you for your financial support that helps us continue calling people into solidarity with oppressed peoples in Central America and Colombia. We are deeply appreciative of your affirmation of our mission and ongoing commitment to this important work.

They said they were punished in a dark room called the island, where they were trampled, kicked and forced to kneel for hours.

One man said officers thrust his head into a tank of water to simulate drowning. 

Another said he was forced to perform oral sex on guards wearing hoods.

Others were shot by rubber bullets.

They said they were told by officials that they would die in the Salvadoran prison, that the world had forgotten them.

“‘You are all terrorists,’” Edwin Meléndez, 30, recalled being told by officers who added: “‘Terrorists must be treated like this.’”

When they could no longer take it, they held a hunger strike. They cut themselves, writing protest messages on sheets in blood.

One detainee, age 26, was so sick that he could not get out of bed, and other men had to feed him. Taken to the infirmary, he was beaten in front of medical personnel. A doctor told him:  “‘Resign yourself. It’s time for you to die.’”

To send the 252 Venezuelan men to prison in El Salvador —along with many Salvadoran nationals—in March of this year, Mr. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping, rarely used 18th-century law that allows for the expulsion of people from an invading nation.

In September, Mr. Trump, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly,  praised Salvadoran officials for “the successful and professional job they’ve done in receiving and jailing so many criminals that entered our country.”

A New York Times analysis revealed that U.S. military aircraft — including an AC-130J attack gunship, a Navy P-8A surveillance plane, and an unmarked Air Force jet — began operating out of El Salvador’s main airport in mid-October. Their deployment marks a significant expansion of the Trump administration’s military buildup in the Caribbean, tied to counternarcotics missions and potential action toward Venezuela. The move underscores close ties between Washington and President Nayib Bukele and raises legal and political concerns as airstrikes in the region increase with little public justification.

Mayor Adán Fúnez of Tocoa granted land to journalist Héctor Madrid and pastor Erlin Henríquez—administrators of Facebook pages that later ran smear campaigns against peasant and environmental organizations in Bajo Aguán. These pages promoted pro-Fúnez and pro-Dinant narratives, defended individuals accused of belonging to the criminal group Los Cachos, and spread disinformation labeling land defenders as criminal actors. Complaints filed by the Agrarian Platform and COPA accuse this coordinated media network of inciting violence and legitimizing attacks tied to criminal groups and local power structures.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democracy and human rights. However, her record and political alliances tell a different story. Machado has expressed support for U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, aligned herself with Trump, Netanyahu, and far-right groups in Europe, and used anti-migrant and nationalist rhetoric to advance her cause. Her positions raise questions about what kind of “peace” and “democracy” she represents, and how her leadership affects the broader Venezuelan struggle against dictatorship and foreign interference.