El Salvador commits ‘systematic’ abuses in gang purge: Amnesty

The government has committed abuses including torture, enforced disappearances in a gang crackdown for a year, says a human rights group.

Authorities in El Salvador have committed “systematic” human rights abuses since they declared a state of emergency across the country last year to tackle gang violence, including torture and enforced disappearances, Amnesty International said. .

rights group saying on Monday that the “state of exception” of the Salvadoran government, declared for the first time in March 2022 by President Nayib Bukele and periodically renewed since then – has also resulted in widespread violations of due process.

“The death of 132 people in state custody, arbitrary detention, massive criminal proceedings, and the indiscriminate imprisonment of tens of thousands of people are incompatible with an effective, just, and lasting public security strategy,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, director for the Americas of Amnesty International, said in a statement.

“The systematic violation of human rights and the dismantling of the rule of law are not the answer to the problems facing the country.”

Under the state of emergency, which was established after a deadly weekend of gang violence in the Central American nation, the government suspended certain civil libertiesincluding the right to a lawyer and the right of assembly.

More than 66,000 people have been detained under the policy and some Salvadoran families say their loved ones have been detained despite not being gang affiliated.

Human rights groups and observers have also warned that the state of emergency is eroding democracy and civil rights in El Salvador for a plan that can amount to a quick fix rather than a long-term solution to crime and gang activity.

However, such criticisms have done little to deter Lookwhose popularity has grown as the crackdown puts pressure on the gang networks that have brought violence and exploitation to many parts of the country for years.

In March, El Salvador extended the state of emergency for the 12th time, giving the government broad discretion to make arrests, access private communications, and strip Salvadorans of their right to a lawyer.

The text of the legislative decree said that “the war against gangs that the government has carried out has allowed the Salvadoran population to feel a sense of security.”

Bukele also recently inaugurated a new mega-prison to hold people detained under the state of emergency. “This will be his new house, where they will live for decades, all mixed up, unable to do any more harm to the population,” the president said in February.

On Monday, Amnesty International warned that Salvadorans “living in the most impoverished areas that have historically suffered the scourge of gangs” were being criminalized under the policy, while there is little transparency or recourse for those who unfairly imprisoned.

Human rights violations are taking place in a “widespread and sustained” manner with the support of various branches of the state, the group said.

“We watch with alarm how overcrowding and torture continue to claim the lives of innocent people, with the complicity of all the institutions that are supposed to defend their rights,” said Guevara Rosas.

“The dehumanization suffered by thousands of unjustly imprisoned people is intolerable.”