El Salvador - State of Exception

Isabel Hernández - SHARE El Salvador Director

Mothers searching for their detained children Photo EDH/Jessica Orellana

On Sunday April 24, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly held an extraordinary plenary session at the request of President Bukele and his cabinet. In this session they approved the extension of 30 more days of the State of Emergency which will end on May 27. The reasoning behind this action was that it would continue to bring security to the population and a frontal attack on the gangs. 

What has happened during 28 days of the declared State of Emergency? 

• Constitutional guarantees of citizenship have been taken away - the authorities can arrest and detain a person without the right to defense and hold them for 15 days.
• Areas where poor families live besieged by crime have been stigmatized.
• Youth have been stigmatized. Wearing a tattoo, even if it is not allusive to gangs, as well as wearing earrings, are now both reasons to be captured.
• They have captured more than 24,000 people, mostly young people. Among those captured include many people who are not part of the gangs, but all are presented to the media as criminals.
• There are 4 people who have died among those captured with no clarification of the cause of death.
• There are numerous complaints from relatives of detainees who have received NO information on where they are being held and what their status is, despite having been held for the 15-day detention period.

With the approval of an extension and another 30 days of state of emergency, the arrests and stigmatization of people who live in areas besieged by crime will continue. These families are now victims of crime and the repression of the state security forces.

This state of exception affects the entire population and denies them the right to freedom of organization and expression.

The assembly has also approved additional laws, such as a ban on the press from making publications that mention the gangs; as well as, the government can now make direct purchases without using LACAP, which allows them to evade controls opening a space to corruption.

Similar measures have been implemented by other Salvadoran governments historically. It is clear and proven that repression alone will not solve a problem as complex as that of the gangs. The problem of the gangs in El Salvador has been generated by multiple causes, among them include exclusionary policies, social marginalization, lack of opportunities and more.

Even in the face of these measures, social organizations continue their community work, taking the necessary measures to avoid gang attacks especially on the most vulnerable groups like our youth.

​We call on organizations that watch over Human Rights, we ask that the International Community maintain vigilance of the events as they take place during the State of Emergency in El Salvador

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