Two years of state of emergency: criticism of Bukele’s fight against gangs in El Salvador “Head of the mafia state”: thousands of Hungarians demonstrated against Orban

Two years after the start of a state of emergency to combat gangs in El Salvador, activists warn of failed security policies and continued human rights violations. “Reducing gang violence by replacing it with state violence cannot be successful,” the regional director of human rights group Amnesty International, Ana Piquer, said on Wednesday.

President Nayib Bukele, who was re-elected for another five-year term in February, is downplaying serious human rights violations, Amnesty International said in a statement. The government presents the security forces’ tough stance on crime as a magic formula. However, there is no long-term plan to combat the root causes of the violence.

According to official information, more than 78,000 people have been arrested for extreme gang crime under the state of emergency in force since March 2022. That is more than one percent of the entire population of the Central American country. Activists denounce the arbitrary arrests, torture and deaths of at least 235 people in authorities’ custody. Parliament has already extended the state of emergency, which was initially in force for only thirty days, more than twenty times. Basic rights such as the right to legal advice and freedom of assembly were restricted.

In February’s elections, Bukele, who is extremely popular in the country, was re-elected for a second term with 83 percent of the vote, even though the country’s constitution forbids direct re-election. His party Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) also won 54 of the 60 seats in parliament. There are hardly any democratic counterweights left in the country. The constitutional judges and the public prosecutor’s office are also close to the government. (sda/dpa)