As the country wages war on gang-related crime, El Salvador’s congress has approved a month-long extension of the state of exception, a policy that suspends some fundamental rights of arrested individuals. Since late March, 50,000 people have been imprisoned for alleged gang connections, the Associated Press reported.
During the state of exception, the right to associate, the right to be informed of the reason for an arrest, and access to a lawyer are all suspended. The government can also interfere with a suspect’s phone calls and mail. In addition, the period of time that an individual can be held without a formal charge has been extended from three to fifteen days.
Those arrested typically appear in large groups before a judge, where prosecutors accuse them of belonging to or associating with gangs. In most cases, no evidence is presented. Almost always, judges have ordered them to be held for six months pending trial, giving prosecutors time to build cases.
An estimated 70,000 gang members in El Salvador have controlled large areas of the country and have allegedly extorted and killed with impunity for a long period of time.
The measures, according to President Nayib Bukele and his cabinet, finally allow the country to deal with these “terrorists.” The president has shifted his tweets from the number of arrests made daily to days without homicides.
Polls show that the measure is widely supported. A total of 66 of the body’s 84 lawmakers supported the proposal, despite the few dozen protesters who gathered outside the Legislative Assembly to call for an end to the policy.
The relative calm in the streets has relieved Salvadorans in general, according to the news source.
An association of bus companies reported that gang extortion of its members has dropped by 95%. In a statement, they said, “It’s a respite.”
However, the state of exception has been criticized by civil rights groups both within and outside of El Salvador, and by family members of detainees.
Those organizations and relatives claim that people were arrested without evidence or due process and have been imprisoned for months awaiting trial.
Virginia Guadalupe Solano López, 25, said her husband, José Alfredo Vega, was relaxing in their home with their daughter on March 27 in Jiquilisco, eastern El Salvador, when he was arrested without explanation. She has not seen him since then.
“He’s not a criminal,” she explained. “He has no record; he’s not stained. They took him because he was suspected of gang involvement.”
The Alliance for Peace movement has established a legal aid office after receiving 500 complaints about arbitrary arrests. El Salvador’s human rights ombudsman, Apolonio Tobar, stated that his office has 28 open investigations into the deaths of people detained under the state of exception.