More crackdowns on human rights defenders in El Salvador
Jailed activists, deaths in custody, and journalists forced into exile
I had an entirely different post in mind, but the recent news from El Salvador over the past few weeks is deeply disturbing and cannot be ignored. Since the world began learning about CECOT — the torture prison Bukele is renting to Trump — El Salvador’s government, under the unconstitutional Bukele regime, has become entangled in several local scandals. These events are already leading to the loss of lives, the erosion of freedoms and the endangerment of human rights defenders, journalists, transportation workers and everyday Salvadoran citizens who dare to speak out against the regime or advocate for their rights.
Freedom for human rights defender Ruth López
Ruth López, chief legal officer for Cristosal, the organization documenting deaths and abuse inside President Bukele’s prisons, has been detained by El Salvador’s National Civil Police. Cristosal has helped confirm nearly 400 deaths and suspects the real number is over 1,000.
Cristosal has garnered international attention for its work collecting testimonies from victims and families of those unlawfully detained. Ruth’s work is a vital source of truth — and that truth is inconvenient for the regime. In addition, Bukele has proposed a new “foreign agent” law aimed at defunding organizations like Cristosal.
📖 Read more about Ruth’s case in the New York Times.
Freedom for human rights defender Alejandro Henríquez
Human rights lawyer Alejandro Henríquez was also arrested earlier this month after providing legal counsel to the El Bosque cooperative, a rural campesino community facing eviction from their lands. After staging a peaceful protest near Bukele’s home, the campesinos were met with intimidation by military police in riot gear.
📖 Read more about Alejandro’s case in El Salvador’s Diaro El Mundo (Spanish)
Los Chorros collapse and death of Roberto Jaco
Infrastructure is crumbling under Bukele’s corruption. The Los Chorros highway collapsed shortly after an expansion, causing traffic chaos — with people in western El Salvador reporting 5+ hour commutes. To save face with angry, stranded Salvadorans, Bukele announced on Twitter/X that bus transportation would be free.
There was another problem: there are no public buses in El Salvador. Private bus owners protested, fearing they wouldn’t be paid. Bukele responded by arresting several of them. One of them, Roberto Jaco, died in prison a week later.
📖 Read more about Roberto’s case here. (Spanish)
El Faro journalists are in exile
After El Faro published a bombshell interview with a former gang leader exposing Bukele’s secret pacts with gangs to gain power, several of their journalists were forced into exile — a devastating blow to press freedom in El Salvador.
🎥 Watch this Democracy Now segment featuring exiled El Faro staff.
Keep up with me
Bukele’s fascism has intensified over the last few weeks — a sign of growing cracks in public opinion. He’s desperate to silence dissent, so I’ve been speaking out wherever I can. Here are some of my latest appearances:
🎙️I joined the Bitter Brown Femmes podcast about El Salvador, pupusa liberals and maintaining hope in the face of… well, everything.
🗣️I spoke to Global Voices about why the Salvadoran diaspora must wake up from the Bukele nightmare and start opposing him en masse.
🔥 I also spoke to Flaming Hydra about how lessons of “disobeying order to save lives” during 1980s civil war are as relevant in the U.S. and El Salvador more than ever.
Much love to these small, independent media outlets for giving me space to speak.