A sweeping gang crackdown has led to the deaths of at least 18 people in state custody, Amnesty International reports.
Amnesty International says El Salvador authorities have committed “massive human rights violations” in a sweeping gang crackdown, including arbitrary arrests, due process violations, torture, and ill-treatment.
On Thursday, a UK-based rights group said that at least 18 people have died in state custody since President Nayib Bukele’s administration declared a state of emergency in March to stem gang violence.
According to Cristosal, a non-profit organization based in Salvador, all those who died were male. In addition, many died from failure to receive timely medical attention, while others showed signs of aggression, such as bruises. Amnesty noted that 500 detainees were being tried in mass hearings. But, according to the report, the majority are prosecuted, even in the absence of evidence.
“On the pretext of punishing gangs, the Salvadoran authorities are committing widespread and flagrant human rights violations and criminalizing people living in poverty,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, the rights group’s America’s director, said in a statement.
“Instead of offering an effective response to the dramatic violence caused by gangs and the historic public security challenges facing the country, they subject the Salvadoran people to a tragedy,” Guevara-Rosas said. Following a record surge in homicides in the Central American nation, Bukele’s government declared a state of emergency on March 27.
UN experts and rights groups have criticized the move, which sent troops into the streets and gave security forces the right to arrest people without a warrant, including other civil liberties restrictions. Congress, where Bukele’s party holds a majority, has extended the emergency measure twice.
Since implementing the law, police and the Army have arrested more than 36,000 people suspected of belonging to gangs, including 1,190 minors.
According to Amnesty International and other rights groups, it is likely that innocent people are being swept up in the raids. In addition, families of detained Salvadorans say they receive little to no information about their loved ones, who they say were rounded up despite having no gang ties.
Amnesty International found that arrests are often arbitrary, based on appearances, unfounded accusations related to a gang member, a criminal record, or living in a gang-controlled neighbourhood.
Despite criticism, the Salvadoran government has defended its policies. Bukele said his administration is on the verge of “winning the war against the gangs” as he marked the end of his third year in office on Wednesday. He also questioned the countries and international groups that have accused his administration of abuses of authority and human rights violations.
“Whatever they say, whatever they do, whatever they write, they attack again and again, I tell you: They are not going to stop us. We have God and the Salvadoran people on our side,” Bukele said.
According to Reuters, the Presidential Office, the Justice and Security Ministry, the Police, and the Army did not immediately respond to questions about Amnesty International’s findings.
Gangs flourished and spread throughout Central America and into Mexico during El Salvador’s civil war, which lasted from 1979 to 1992. Authorities estimate that there are approximately 70,000 gang members in El Salvador.
On Wednesday, Gustavo Villatoro, Bukele’s security minister, vowed that the government would continue its “war” on gangs despite the drop in homicides. “This war is going to continue for as long as necessary and to the extent that the public continues to demand it,” Villatoro said.
“We are going to continue to confront this cancer, and we have said it before, and we stand by it, this war will continue until the gangs are eradicated from the territory of El Salvador.”
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Surveys show that 70 percent of Salvadorans support the government’s current efforts to reduce gang crime, a problem that has led thousands of people to leave the country.
El Salvador’s poorest neighbourhoods, where the state has long been absent, are where gangs wield the most power. They drain the economy by extorting money from the lowest earners and forcing businesses that cannot or will not pay to close.
