The crackdown began in March 2022, following a spike in gang violence that left 87 people dead in a single weekend. In response, Bukele announced a nationwide state of emergency, suspending certain civil liberties in order to rapidly tamp down the violence.
The decision sent military troops cascading into every corner of the country.
Those with criminal records and bodies covered in tattoos, a common characteristic of gang members, were rounded up. But critics say many innocent people were also detained, with little recourse to appeal their arrests.
By the end of 2023, more than 75,000 people accused of gang affiliations had been absorbed into the prison system, around 1 percent of the total population.
But the Salvadoran group Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (SJH) — also known as Humanitarian Legal Aid — estimates that about 20,000 of those imprisoned are innocent.
Ingrid Escobar, the director of SJH, explained that judicial reforms introduced under Bukele’s state of emergency have eroded the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.
“They don’t listen to the call from human rights groups to look at the cases of thousands of innocent people who don’t have tattoos or criminal records but are paying a sentence they do not owe,” she told Al Jazeera.
Bukele supporters defend the restrictions under the state of emergency as a necessary part of tackling deeply entrenched crime.
Ingrid Escobar, the director of Socorro Jurídico Humanitario, meets with families who say their loved ones have been unjustly arrested [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]
Once the most dangerous country in Latin America, El Salvador has seen its murder rate plunge from more than 106 murders per 100,000 people in 2015 to a rate of 2.4 in 2023, according to government figures.
Critics, however, point out that the numbers were already falling before Bukele came to power in 2019. They also question whether Bukele’s “mano dura” — or “iron fist” — policies are sustainable.
“Mass incarceration and the isolation of gang leaders in maximum security prisons never serve to debilitate gangs in the long term,” said Sonja Wolf, a researcher at Mexico’s National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (CONAHCYT) and author of the book Mano Dura: The Politics of Gang Control in El Salvador.
“Such a precarious peace is notoriously unstable,” Wolf added.
In Puerto El Triunfo, for instance, the armed forces themselves have come under suspicion of illegal activity. The community has raised accusations that some military members gave false testimonies to make arrests.
One lieutenant captain in the navy, for instance, has been engulfed in claims that he threatened to arrest local women — or their partners — if they refused his sexual advances. He was arrested but has reportedly been released while his case is processed.
“The military has been given excessive power in Puerto El Triunfo,” said Escobar of Humanitarian Legal Aid. Her group helped free seven of the 25 people it believes were arrested arbitrarily on an island in the Puerto El Triunfo municipality.
“We are winning cases because there is no proof, only lies,” she added.
Residents in Puerto el Triunfo have claimed innocent family members have been swept up in military raids [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]
Yet with sky-high approval ratings, Bukele looks set to score another landslide win at the polls on Sunday, something Wolf believed will embolden him further.
“We can expect not only the repression but also the institutional erosion to continue,” she said.
Bukele has nevertheless faced intense international pressure to curb his government’s abuses and avoid further democratic backsliding.
Last year, for instance, the United Nations called on Bukele to comply with international human rights law, amid reports of “serious violations of prisoners’ rights”, arbitrary detention and the overall “ill-treatment” of suspects.
But Wolf warned that Bukele is unlikely to pay much attention to the criticism, particularly as his country expands relations with China.
“If El Salvador can get economic support from a country that is a rival of the United States and that cares little about human rights, Bukele has no reason to embrace the democratic part of the international community,” Wolf said.
Located in the shadow of a volcano, Puerto el Triunfo is a fishing town of approximately 16,000 residents [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]
Santiago, Rosa’s nephew and Jorge Antonio’s son, is among those grappling with the changes under Bukele.
As a result of the gang crackdown, the teenager has been left without a father. Rosa looks after him instead. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Santiago mourned the life he once had.
“My dad used to take me out to eat. He’d take me to the shopping centre, one of my favourite places,” he said.
“Now we don’t go out. After all this time not hearing from my dad, my family has become sad and desperate. The joy and happiness that I had, it’s gone.”
He also finds himself stricken with anxiety when he sees the heightened military presence on the town streets.
“I’m terrified when I see soldiers because I think that they’ll take me too. I can’t even go to the river to swim because of the regime,” Santiago said through quiet tears.
He has been unable to speak to his father since his arrest in 2022, due to the stiff restrictions prisoners face.
Life has changed dramatically in Puerto El Triunfo. Some of the colourful fishing boats around the pink-brick pier lie abandoned. Where laughter once filled houses, there is now a void, according to Santiago and others.
But the fear and uncertainty has remained.
“If I could speak to my dad, I’d tell him that I miss him,” Santiago said. “I’d say that he needs to keep going and stay strong, because one day, hopefully, we’ll see each other again.”
Source link : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/2/trapped-in-this-hell-how-one-el-salvador-town-transformed-under-bukele
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Publish date : 2024-02-02 03:00:00
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