El Salvador’s gang crackdown raises alarm among rights groups

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Rights groups have raised concern over abuses by security authorities in El Salvador against alleged gang members following a recent wave of gang violence.

More than 5,747 people have been detained without an arrest warrant, “and some have reportedly been subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday in a statement.

President Nayib Bukele’s government declared a state of emergency on March 27 after three days of violence left 87 people dead, which Bukele blamed on the MS-13 gang.

The move has raised alarm among human rights organizations, which see the measure as an opportunity for Bukele's government to curb individual liberties.

“Police and military forces have been deployed to gang stronghold areas and reportedly resorted to unnecessary and excessive use of force,” said Throssell.

Human Rights Watch has also called on the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union to speak out on the measures adopted in El Salvador, which suspend some constitutional rights of citizens such as the right to counsel in a legal process and the right to association.

"It is not possible that there is no unanimous global condemnation of the barbarities we are seeing in El Salvador," said Tamara Taraciuk, acting Americas director of Human Rights Watch.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Throssell said the changes meant that “criminal trials could now be held in absentia in the case of alleged gang members or presided over by so-called ‘faceless’ judges whose identity remained ‘confidential.’”

“Teenagers associated with gangs who are found guilty of serious offences may now be sentenced as adults and serve their sentence in adult rather than juvenile detention,” she added.

Bukele said Monday that 6,000 suspected gang members had been arrested since the order came into force. He addressed public concerns of gangs "taking revenge" on the population after the massive arrests.

If they commit an act of revenge, "there will not be even one meal in prison," Bukele said. "I swear to God that they will not eat a single grain of rice, and we will see how long they last, and I don't care what international organizations say."

​​Since he came to power, Bukele has succeeded in lowering the country’s murder rate. However, the US has accused his government of secretly negotiating a truce with leaders of the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs, an accusation he has strongly denied.

In recent decades, the history of El Salvador has been marked by gang violence, reaching one of the highest homicide and crime rates in the world. ​​​​​​​