The shadow of the “construction” of security policies to end gang violence has turned into a menacing specter that hovers over Central America. Reclaiming the ruthless strategy, used by the region in past decades and taken to extremes by its president, Neb Bukel, in El Salvador, puts NGOs and independent journalists who denounce the systematic violation of human rights in check. The president conveyed this confrontation to social media, with the double aim of justifying his administration and elevating it to a role model. After coming to power, in February 2019, Bukele launched a war against gangs to end murders (El Salvador had one of the highest rates in the continent), disappearances, extortion and rape by criminal groups that over the years had become a force against the criminal group. condition. The government, through its security policies (implementation of the Regional Monitoring Plan), has sought to regain control of the areas mainly controlled by Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18. The goal achieved, according to Bukele, after the last week’s deployment of 10,000 troops in Soyapango , a district of the capital. Standard Related News Si Félix Ulloa, Vice President of El Salvador: “The state of emergency in the country will continue until the gangster evil is eradicated” Susana Gavina In almost eight months, 57,000 people have been arrested in El Salvador. Non-governmental organizations, international organizations and journalists have denounced this measure. This year, the president added perhaps the most controversial measure of his term: creating the emergency order on March 27 after a bloody weekend that left nearly 90 people dead. at the hands of gangs. This allowed the government to suspend constitutional freedoms – entering homes without a warrant and making arrests without evidence. A measure that Parliament, which has a pro-government majority, has been extending every month, and that has already led to the arrest of nearly 60,000 people (the prison population has tripled), including at least 1,600 minors (three days after the implementation of The emergency system has been lowered (the criminal age is from 16 to 12). Of this total number, 51,000 people will remain in preventive detention, while by law they can only be held without trial for six months (if this is not done, the temporary detention will be extended for another six months). These are some of the violations denounced this week by Human Rights Watch and the Salvadoran organization Cristosal, which last Wednesday submitted a report in which they found, after dozens of interviews with prosecutors and judges, some of the few people who have been released. and relatives of those arrested, “generalized abuse by security forces,” Tamara Tarajic, deputy director of Human Rights Watch for the Americas, told a news conference. Juanita Jubertos, Americas director at Human Rights Watch asserted that “there is a systematic violation of human rights,” later referring to the thousands of arbitrary arrests that have taken place in the country, “without evidence and without court orders”; the enforced disappearances, torture and detention of hundreds of people “who have no connection to gangs or any kind of crime”; restrict access to “trusted attorneys”; and mass judicial hearings, “of more than 500 people and approximately”, as well as the lack of protocols “to determine the causes of deaths in custody”, at least 90, according to several NGOs. Stigmatization After acknowledging the historical problem posed by gangs in the country — “in El Salvador there have been serious cases of violence due to the scourge of the Maras” — and in response to the campaign waged by Bukele and his government to harass and “stigmatize” civil organizations denouncing violations of his security plan, Goubertos accused the president El Salvadoran created a “false dilemma: security vs. human rights.” In his opinion, to really solve the problem, “it is necessary to pursue an effective policy of dismantling gangs, but Bukele’s policy is not sustainable and can generate new types of violence and gross violations of human rights,” Goebertus warned, Who also questioned the implementation, Last Tuesday, I declared a state of emergency in Honduras to put an end to extortion by gangs. Desktop code is an evil scheme. These organizations have an invested interest in continuing the bloodbath in Latin America. They attack those who fight crime and terrorism, while They promote ways for criminals and terrorists to gain or return to political power.https://t.co/BYFqERfKxD— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) December 8, 2022 Mobile photo, mobile phone code, app It’s an evil scheme . These organizations have an invested interest in continuing the bloodbath in Latin America. They attack those who fight crime and terrorism, while promoting ways for criminals and terrorists to gain or return to political power. https://t.co/BYFqERfKxD — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) December 8, 2022 AMP Code It’s an evil scheme. These organizations have an invested interest in continuing the bloodbath in Latin America. They attack those who fight crime and terrorism, while promoting ways for criminals and terrorists to gain or return to political power. https://t.co/BYFqERfKxD — Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) December 8, 2022 APP CODE It’s an evil scheme. These organizations have an invested interest in continuing the bloodbath in Latin America. They attack those who fight crime and terrorism, while promoting ways for criminals and terrorists to gain or return to political power. https://t.co/BYFqERfKxD – Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) on December 8, 2022 had immediate response to President Bukele’s response to the publication of Human Rights Watch and Christosal’s report, which was picked up by several international media outlets. “Have you noticed how the major media and NGOs have intensified their attacks in recent days? Here’s why. It’s not that they care about El Salvador (they never were), their fear is that we will succeed, because other governments will want to emulate them. They fear the power of example.” Thus, the president responded to a tweet from Tamara Tarajic criticizing his security policy: “It is risky to imitate Bukele’s example. Bukele’s popularity should not blind Latin American governments [supera el 85%] Because history shows that strong-arm policies do not improve insecurity in the long run. Bukele promoted the idea that human rights were an obstacle to peace, bought by society. Choose: you want democracy or gangs. And it’s not true »Juan Martínez Dubisson Journalist and Anthropologist El Salvador For investigative journalist and Salvadoran anthropologist Juan Martínez Diubisson, the fact that Bukele managed to “crush” the gangs in El Salvador is disqualifying. It was a success for the country, he explained, “because it is not the state reclaiming lost ground, it is the displacement of a criminal form by a state heavily infiltrated by another, more efficient, criminal form”. As for how much support the president has in this crackdown, it will be, in Dubisson’s opinion, the result of the narrative used by Bukele: “He promoted the idea that human rights were an obstacle to peace and society. He bought it. Choose: you want democracy or gangs. That’s wrong.” “You can have both: many countries have them,” says the journalist and anthropologist.
