El Salvador: News & Updates

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.

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