El Salvador: News & Updates

We have reported on the Salvadoran gang crackdowns before, with information on mass arrests, hearings and institutional violence on the streets and in prisons. But what is the outcome of these extreme practices? This Small Wars Journal article by Jonathan D. Rosen provides a deep dive into the effects of the authoritarian policies. 

The ongoing crackdown is far from the first in El Salvador's history. These radical measures were first implemented by former president Francisco Flores early this century, appealing to the public demand for security. In 2004, President Tony Saca doubled down on the totalitarian approach. Neither of them were very successful, instead fueling a spiral of violence and gang membership. In 2009 the public passed on the torch to left-wing politician Mauricio Funes. Funes started a new approach to combat gang related crime. He negotiated. All tough homicide rates dropped during his time in office. Funes lost his authority in 2014 when his vice-president, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, assumed the presidency.  Following Sánchez Cerén's election, homicide rates skyrocketed to an unheard of 100 per 100,000 habitants in 2015. The re-rising of violence was a perfect legitimization for the reintroduction of iron fist ("mano dura") policies.  In 2015, the Salvadoran Supreme Court voted to label gangs as terrorists, allowing for the deployment of the military and marking gangs as the number one security threat for the country's security. 

In 2019, Salvadorans elected populist candidate Nayib Bukele as their new president. It was a choice based mainly on the ongoing violence and his declaration to keep up the radical anti-gang policies. Bukle delivered.    In June 2019 he brought forward his territorial control plan, increasing police and military  presence in areas known for heavy gang activities.  In addition to his crackdown approach, Bukele secretly negotiated with MS 13, Salvador's most powerful gang. After journalists revealed this, institutional attacks on the press became routine.     

Following a spike in homicides in March 2022, the Bukele administration declared a State of Exception (regímen de excepción), which has been extended several times. This hardline approach has not delivered the promised effect.   In May, the gangs struck back, killing more than 60 people in a single day. A direct message to Bukele. 

But what are the consequences of this crackdown policy? 

The expanded State of Exception has led to over 50,000 arrests. A institutional signal that "the government is winning." In actuality, this is an ongoing circle of arrests, releases and re-arrests. This mass incarceration has caused overcrowded prisons, which now act as "schools of crime," enabling gangs to better organize. Gangs build their own institutions within the prisons, which today are seen as the epicenter for gang activity. No wonder, considering that the Salvadoran prison population has grown from "only" 7,754 in 2000, to 37,190 in 202o, the highest population per 100,000 in the world. One can only guess today's number. 

The demand for security leads to a race to the bottom among politicians, ignoring alternative measures like prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration without which the underlying issues can not be solved.

Although the mass arrests and decrease in homicides may appeal to the political base, other crimes like forced disappearances and violence against specific groups are ignored. Women, in particular, are endangered, as they are treated as property. 

Besides the iron fist policies, Bukele plans to stay in power by running for president once more, in direct violation of the Salvadoran constitution.

In sum, the crackdown has created many harms, leading to overcrowded prisons and oppression by security forces while failing to reduce violence and gang activities. 

The problem with gang membership will not be solved without addressing its root causes--something that is impossible with the current heavy-handed approach.   

The indigenous people of  Sonsonate in western El Salvador are bundled with daily struggles. Commercial farming damages their homeland and privatizations strip them of basic needs like water. 

Women especially are suffering under these circumstances. 

In 2017 the New Dawn Association of El Salvador (ANADES) founded their Agroecological School, teaching indigenous women their ancestors' way of farming, using native crops and to work in harmony with the environment. Besides the practical training, the program includes theoretical classes, reflecting on the oppression with which the women are confronted every day. Together they analyze structures like capitalism, colonization and patriarchy. 

The program helps communities and families to become financially independent while saving the environment and building an economy benefiting all. 

October 15 is known as the Rural Women's day. 

El Salvador's State of Emergency, impeimented in March, has led to immense cuts in civil liberties.

It empowerd the police to arrest without warrents, causing 55,000 arrests since March.

This development alarms human rights groups, who criticise the curtailing of the right to a lawyer, the right to be informed about the reason for the arrest, detention for up to 15 days without charges and the reduction of the criminal responsibility age to 12 years. 

In spite of these criticisms, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly has voted in favor of an extension of the State of Emergency several times; recenlty on October 14.

To keep up with the masses of imprisonments, the government is building a new jail desinged to hold 40.000 suspected criminals.    

As Fiscal Year 2022 is almost over, we are hearing numbers of 750 or more migrant deaths over the past twelve months. While, tragically, it does still happen that migrants die while being chased by Border Patrol agents or shot when attempting to cross the border, the majority of these deaths are a result of the so-called “prevention through deterrence” strategy that forces people to take on more dangerous routes when traveling up to the southern U.S. border to seek safety. And if they do make it through to the U.S., they are often expelled immediately or put into deportation proceedings, waiting for their hearing in Mexican emergency shelters or U.S. detention centers. Read IRTF's monthly overview of recent updates on U.S. immigration and what has been happening at the border!

https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog/migrant-justice-newsletter-sep-2022

For over six months now the country of El Salvador has been in a State of Exception (similar to a declared State of Emergency).

This is a temporary suspension of some constitutional rights that enables the government to repeal basic human rights as well as democratic structures. 

The current government under president Nayib Bukele officially initiated the State of Exception as a means to counter gang violence, but uses it to rule the country with an iron fist.

In this time span corruption and human rights violations have risen to new highs.

One of the rights that has been suspended is the 2011 enacted "Law on Access to Public Information" (LAIP), guaranteeing the right to seek and receive information held by the state. With this law expelled, the government has eliminated any public control over the the use of funds and state contracts, opening the door for corruption. According to the Office of the General Attorney, up to 66% of state purchases showed signs of irregularities in their procedures. 

Besides the staggering rise of corruption, the State of Exception drags a trail of state violence and oppression. Under the pretext of the struggle against gang violence, massive power abuse by police and armed forces has been reported. Up until September the state has detained over 52,549 people without warrants and has sent 45,260  individuals to prison during mass hearings. 

The policies have led to overcrowded prisons, causing a lack of basic human needs and at least 73 deaths due to torture, lack of medical assistance, hunger and other violence. The number of unreported cases is estimated to far surpass the official numbers. 

Since the Biden administration restarted the Central American Minors Refugee and Parole Program (CAM program), initionaly initiated by the Obama administration and later withdrawn by Trump, not much has happened. 

Underfunding and personal shortage at the nine national resettlement agencies led to the inability to handle the mass of applications. 

Due to this bottleneck only a few hundred cases filed before the Trump administration ended the program have been completed since March 2021.

For many children this slow processing of applications means waiting times of over a year and no information on how long it will take until they are reunited with their familes.

Organizations are now calling for the support of consuls to help the children with their application interviews and pass case information on to the waiting parents or guardians.