Originally written : September 17, 2022
By Natasha Antoniuk
On March 27 of 2022, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly passed a “state of emergency” law upon request by El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, to combat the high homicide rates in El Salvador. And as of September 17, five months since the citizens originally had many of their rights suspended, this law has been renewed five times and is still in effect. This “state of emergency” law - as described in part by Articles 29, 30, and 31 of El Salvador’s Constitution - suspends freedom of movement, suspends the right to privacy and regulation of evidence collection, restricts freedom of press and expression, and restricts freedom of assembly and association.1 Along with this, a prison lockdown was ordered that allows for “maximum emergency” security measures including no access to the outside, even the patio; closed cells 24 hours per day; and punishment to inmates for the actions of those outside the prison, all of which was stated in a Twitter post made by President Nayib Bukele on March 27. On that same post, originally in Spanish, but translated to English, President Bukele wrote a “message to the gangs” that “Because of your actions, now your “homeboys” won’t be able to see a ray of sunshine.”2 This is in disregard to the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Rules that outline the basic standards for the treatment of prisoners, as well as violating human rights that prisoners are not to be punished for the actions of those not in prison. El Salvador’s government has also been pressuring independent judges to sentence those taken to court while encouraging the abuse by security forces by shielding the security forces from accountability.3
President Nayib Bukele has been using the “war” on gangs as justification for the changes he is putting into effect – including steadily removing all the independent checks on executive power. Over 50,000 people have been detained since March 27 and calling them all “terrorists”4 is a bit overkill – especially when many of them were detained without arrest warrants.5 Using his powerful propaganda, the president has been pushing the agenda that all the gang members deserve the abuse they have been receiving, since they are all supposed gang members, as well as how the president has been using this same type of propaganda to cover up that many of those arrested seem to have been based on factors not related to whether they committed a crime.5 President Nayib Bukele has been keeping rights from his citizens unnecessarily for long periods of time, during circumstances that do not allow by international law for any guaranteed human rights to be suspended, as may occur in certain specific circumstances.3
As perfectly summed up by the acting Americas director at Human Rights Watch, Tamara Taraciuk Broner, “The Bukele strategy government seems to be ‘first arrest, then tweet, and investigate later.”
Citations
El Salvador Constitution, Article XXIX
Bukele, Nayib. Twitter post. Published March 27, 2022, 7:13 pm EST. Accessed September 17, 2022.
“El Salvador: Broad 'State of Emergency' Risks Abuse.” Human Rights Watch. Published March 29, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2022. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/29/el-salvador-broad-state-emergency-risks-abuse-0.
El Salvador’s Ministry of Security. Twitter post. Published August 19, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2022. https://twitter.com/SeguridadSV/status/1560766948341796864.
Taraciuk Broner, Tamara. “Living without Rights Feels Normal in El Salvador. It Shouldn't Be.” Human Rights Watch. Published September 13, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2022.
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