Sr. Rodolfo Antonio Delgado Montes
Fiscal General de la República (FGR)
San Salvador, El Salvador
May 1, 2025
Dear Attorney General:
We are deeply concerned about the legal persecution of attorneys Ivania Cruz and Rudy Joya of the Human and Community Rights Defense Unit of El Salvador (UNIDEHC), which provides free legal assistance to persons forcibly displaced by government or private businesses For several months UNIDEHC has been supporting the land rights of 140 families in the community of La Floresta, who have been fighting against forced eviction in San Juan Opico, La Libertad Department. On March 13, the Fifth Court Against Organized Crime in San Salvador began judicial proceedings against 24 community leaders from La Floresta, charging them with usurpation of property, irregular marketing of subdivision parcels, illegal restriction of movement, and aggravated threats connected with illegal criminal groups (i.e., gangs).
Ivania Cruz and Rudy Joya are well-known for representing dozens of people arbitrarily detained under the State of Exception, which was initiated in March 2022, as well as several high-profile opposition leaders who have been jailed. On behalf of UNIDEHC, they have filed legal actions against various public officials in the Bukele administration for human rights violations as well as for misuse of state resources and corruption, such as the embezzlement of $35 million from the savings and credit cooperative COSAVI (Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Santa Victoria).
The Courts Against Organized Crime are, according to the government, reserved for gang members. Yet the charges of agrupaciones ilícitas (illicit groupings) brought forth against Ivania Cruz and Rudy Joya by the Attorney General's Office (FGR) and the National Civilian Police (PNC) place them in this court, where they are scheduled to appear on May 5. The arrests and charges against Ivania Cruz and Rudy Joya jeopardize the right to legal defense of the inhabitants of La Floresta. We suspect that these criminal proceedings are an attempt by the state to silence their work in exposing further state abuses.
Last month (cf our letter of 13 April 2025) we wrote to protest the criminalization of UNIDEHC spokesperson Fidel Antonio Zavala Pérez, who was transferred on April 2 to the notorious Centro Penitenciario La Esperanza (Penitentiary Center La Esperanaza, more commonly known as “Mariona”) on the outskirts of San Salvador. Since Fidel Zavala has previously denounced torture or other ill-treatment in penitentiary centers, including the abusive treatment of detainees by prison guards at Mariona, we are concerned for his safety.
We urge that your government
- release Fidel Zavala from detention and drop all spurious charges against the residents of La Floresta and members of UNHIDEC, including attorneys Ivania Cruz and Rudy Joya
- uphold the right to due process and defense for all of those being criminally charged
- respect the right to free association as stated in Article 7 of the Salvadoran constitution
- stop the misuse of criminal law to persecute political, social and community leaders who engage in the legitimate defense of human rights
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai Christine Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies:
r. Presidente Nayib Bukele, Presidente de la República ~ via email and US mail
Licda. Raquel Cabellero de Guevara,, Procuradora para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos/ Human Rights Ombudsman of El Salvador ~ via email
Carmen Milena Mayorga de Monterrosa, Ambassador of El Salvador in Washington, DC ~ via email & US mail
Carlos Bernal Pulido, Rapporteur for El Salvador, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ~ via email & US mail
William H Duncan, Ambassador of the US in San Salvador ~ via email & US mail
US State Department: El Salvador Desk ~ via email
US Senators Husted and Moreno ~via email
US Representatives Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes ~ via email
22 APR 2025_CISPES_El Salvador
