El Salvador: News & Updates

Late in Trump’s first term, the Justice Department convened the Joint Task Force Vulcan to catch senior members of the notorious MS-13 gang who, from their base in El Salvador,  were directing the organization’s activities in the US (including kidnappings, drug trafficking and murders). Eventually, nine MS-13 gang leaders were taken into US federal custody.

But now President Bukele of El Salvador wants them back.

Why?

The gang leaders have threatened to exposed Bukele’s alleged deals his government made with MS-13 to help achieve El Salvador’s historic drop in violence. It’s also a key step in hindering an ongoing U.S. investigation into his government’s relationship with MS-13.

Early this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brokered a deal to make both Trump and Bukele look good. Trump needed a foreign partner to accept deportees regardless of nationality or legal considerations. Bukele, condemned by human rights advocates for curtailment of civil liberties, sweeping accumulation of executive power and oversight of a prison system beset by abuse, needed to ward off threats to his reputation as a crime-fighting visionary (and “the world’s coolest dictator,” as he describes himself).

The deal between Rubio and Bukele granted the Trump administration access to a sprawling foreign prison dubbed the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, that would become integral to Trump’s ongoing efforts to conduct the “largest deportation in American history.”

Read this compelling article based on accounts from dozens of officials from the United States and El Salvador, lawyers representing MS-13 gang members, prosecutors, diplomats, former Justice Department officials and political appointees. The Trump administration’s willingness to renege on secret arrangements made with informants who had aided U.S. investigations has not been previously reported.

Political imprisonment is surging in El Salvador under President Bukele, targeting lawyers, journalists, and activists who dare to speak out. Once a symbol of post-war democracy, the country now uses modern authoritarian tactics—forced disappearances, fake charges, and harsh prison conditions—to silence dissent. The case of Ruth López is just one of many. As fear spreads and critics flee, the world must decide how to respond.

In El Salvador, defending human rights is becoming a criminal act. Members of the NGO UNIDEHC—lawyers, advocates, and community leaders—are facing raids, arrests, and even Interpol notices for standing up to forced evictions and state abuses. Human rights defender Fidel Zavala now faces three criminal cases and was returned to the very prison where he had denounced torture and death. This isn’t just repression—it’s retaliation, and it sends a chilling message to anyone who dares to speak out.

Since 2022, El Salvador’s state of exception has led to mass detentions and severe overcrowding in prisons. In this context, corruption has become systemic: families of detainees are forced to provide “donations” — including money, medicine, food, and supplies — in exchange for visits or information about their loved ones. Cases documented by Cristosal reveal that these practices are widespread, coercive, and institutionalized, turning basic human rights into commodities. The hidden business of the prison system exploits the desperation of families, perpetuates abuse, and erodes the rule of law.

Cristosal full length report: here

Venezuelan men freed from an El Salvador prison share shocking stories of abuse they suffered while being held there. After months in captivity, they describe beatings, torture, and sexual assault in terrible conditions. Their testimonies shed light on the brutal treatment they faced at the hands of Salvadoran guards, with U.S. involvement raising urgent questions about responsibility and accountability. 

8. August 2025

In El Salvador, land once turned into homes by the poor is now being claimed by private companies — with the government’s backing. In the Primero de Diciembre community, families face eviction from land they’ve lived on for 20 years after a company, Quebec S.A., suddenly asserted ownership. Residents say this is part of a broader pattern under President Bukele’s development agenda, where land privatization and forced displacement are accelerating. Activists warn that the government’s state of exception is being used not just against gangs, but to silence opposition and clear the way for tourism and real estate projects — threatening the rights and livelihoods of El Salvador’s most vulnerable.