Until recently, El Salvador had one of the highest murder rates in the world, but under President Nayib Bukele, a crackdown on crime and gangs has transformed El Salvador into one of the safest countries in Latin America. However, safe streets came at a high cost. The government's strict measures against gangs have led to widespread human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of detainees, including children. While violence has decreased, concerns are rising over the erosion of civil liberties and democratic principles. Human rights groups are angry, but most Salvadorans are pleased that the gang violence has decreased.
Mass imprisonment of people, enforced disappearances, and deaths in state custody followed the start of a state of emergency that has lasted for more than two years, a measure that is usually considered extraordinary and temporary. El Salvador has adopted a policy of systematic torture towards the people detained under suspicion of being gang members. As of February 2024, victims’ movements, local human rights organizations, and media reports had registered 327 cases of enforced disappearances and more than 78,000 arbitrary detentions. Prison overcrowding has reached 148%, and at least 235 deaths in state custody have been detected as a result of inhumane conditions of confinement that include shortages of food and basic hygiene supplies, as well as denial of health care and deprivation of medicines. “In the absence of any evaluation and checks and balances within the country, and with only a timid response from the international community, the false illusion has been created that President Bukele has found the magic formula to solve the very complex problems of violence and criminality in a seemingly simple way,” said Ana Piquer, Director for the Americas at Amnesty International, in a recent report by the organization. She continued, “Reducing gang violence by replacing it with state violence cannot be a success without seeking long-term solutions.”
Bukele’s “war on gangs” is not limited to the adult population of the country. Since the state of emergency began in March 2022, police officers and soldiers have conducted numerous raids in low-income neighborhoods, where they have arrested over 3,000 children. These children have been given sentences ranging from 2 to 12 years in prison. Many of them have suffered serious human rights violations during their arrest, while in custody, and even after their release. The raids did not discriminate between children and adults, leading to a situation where many children have been affected. For decades, pervasive poverty, social exclusion, and a lack of educational opportunities have left few viable paths forward for children, enabling gangs to recruit and exploit them while security forces stigmatize and harass them.
Through mistreatment and torture, some children have been coerced into confessing to being part of a gang or otherwise providing information about supposed gang affiliation. Frequently, such arrests appear to have been motivated by a child’s physical appearance and unverified tips rather than by evidence. “Detained children have often faced overcrowding, lack of adequate food and health care, and have been denied access to their lawyers and family members." Human Rights Watch reported. Children have been held alongside adults in most cases, with no steps taken to protect detained children from violence at the hands of other detainees, including beatings and sexual violence. In May 2022, soldiers stopped a 16-year-old high school student from Sensuntepeque, Cabañas State, on his way home from a football match. A relative said that soldiers forced him to strip, burned his torso with a cigarette lighter, and ordered him to confess gang affiliations. Juanita Goebertus Estrada from Human Rights Watch stated that “the government’s harsh targeting of children risks perpetuating the cycle of violence in El Salvador,” warning foreign governments to protect the lives and futures of children. Children and their family members described being doubly victimized: first, at the hands of gang members who abused them and tried to recruit them, then by security forces who arbitrarily detained and mistreated them.
The government is increasing the significance of the lifelong consequences of traumatic detention experiences rather than rehabilitating the children. Despite the well-documented human rights abuses committed during the crackdown, the number of homicides dropping nearly by 70% has helped make Bukele one of the region’s most popular presidents. Even though the constitution prohibited the president from running for a second term, Bukele changed the constitution to be able to rule again, winning the election in February by such a margin that the country is now close to being a one-party state. The minimization, concealment, delegitimization, and denial adopted by the government of El Salvador suggest that Bukele’s second term in office will deepen the crisis seen in previous years. In the absence of correction, the criminal process will continue to be instrumentalized and torture will persist, leading to an increase in due process violations, state custody deaths, and the precarious situation of those deprived of their freedom.
