[News] End U.S. complicity in the State of Exception in El Salvador
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Apr 21 10:09:07 EDT 2022
The U.S. must immediately take steps to address its complicity in the
human rights abuses, violations of due process, and political
persecution in El
Salvador.
*Over 12,000 people have been arrested in El Salvador since the Bukele
administration declared a State of Exception on March 27th.* In the name
of cracking down on gangs following a wave of deadly violence, the State
of Exception suspended several consitutional rights, including due
process and freedom of assembly, and enabled the Salvadoran military and
police to make arbitrary arrests, particularly targeting youth from
marginalized communities. *Those arrested can be held for 15 days
without charges or even seeing a judge and can be held for years without
a trial. *The Legislative Assembly also passed reforms so that
journalists and others can be jailed for up to 15 years for publishing
information that "alludes" to gangs or is presumed to have originated
from them - a clear act of press censorship.
SOA Watch joined the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES) and sixty-five other organizations in a joint
statement
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T6e3aa708-5e71-4a86-abaf-2741a33d3c4b/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>
raising concern about the widespread arbitrary arrests, violations of
due process, and human rights violations taking place in El Salvador.
The statement also addresses the U.S. role in promoting "militarized,
punitive policing and mass incarceration"and financing much of the
military and police aparatus currently carrying out arbitrary arrests.
*Take action!* Ask your Congressional Representative to support a letter
calling for a suspension of U.S. military and police "aid" to El
Salvador, as well as Guatemala and Honduras, by clicking here
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T7f2c5bbd-785b-4616-a7d7-4521dd251fe2/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>.
<https://default.salsalabs.org/Ta8c88c09-827d-4f84-95a8-13be95c3a984/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>
*Widespread Arbitrary Arrests and Violations of Due Process In El
Salvador Raise Concerns About Human Rights and Ongoing U.S. Security
Cooperation*
Over 65 U.S.-based groups release joint statement expressing “profound
concern” about the Bukele administration’s State of Exception
Washington, DC, April 19, 2022: Over 65 U.S.-based human rights, faith,
immigrant rights, diaspora, and international solidarity organizations
released a joint statement
<https://default.salsalabs.org/Ta03147d1-6a05-4399-9351-4d3f2d1e0806/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>
expressing “profound concern” about the Bukele administration’s mass
arrests in El Salvador and reports of human rights violations at the
hands of state security forces. Since early April, over 12,000 people,
predominantly from marginalized communities, have been arrested without
warrants in response to a tragic spike in homicides; many arrests have
been denounced by witnesses and family members as arbitrary in nature.
As the 15-day administrative period for which people can be held without
charges under a 30-day State of Exception comes to close for many, the
groups are calling on the Salvadoran government to reinstate due
process, lest a door be opened to “profound and lasting injustice.”
The groups also expressed concern that “sweeping legal reforms,
including the elimination of a two-year limit on provisional detention”
will exacerbate an “already widespread problem of prolonged detention.”
The groups also point to decades of U.S. security cooperation promoting
“militarized, punitive policing” as part of the problem, and worry that
more Salvadorans will be forced to migrate out of fear of wrongful
incarceration.
*Read the statement here
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T91c757fa-9ae4-4137-9db2-f055351a5e68/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>.*
“For the past two decades, the U.S. has been a major partner in building
up the Salvadoran security apparatus that the Salvadoran government is
now taking to extreme and inhumane ends. Whether President Bukele is
going after gang members, as he claims, or uses expanded state powers to
target political opponents, the U.S. also bears responsibility for the
state’s ability to carry out violence against the population,” said
Alexis Stoumbelis of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES).
“The U.S. must immediately take steps to address its complicity in the
human rights abuses, violations of due process, and political
persecution in El Salvador by immediately ending all U.S. military and
police assistance to El Salvador, including U.S. promotion of
militarized policing and mass incarceration,” said Brigitte Gynther of
SOA Watch.
“Working-class families in marginalized neighborhoods already have to
live in constant fear of the gangs. Now, they are disproportionately
susceptible to arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention, and a politicized
justice system. What will be the response to this worsening situation?
Many Salvadorans will naturally leave their homes or even the country to
avoid becoming a victim of a lawless government, resulting in more mass
displacement from El Salvador.” - Arturo Viscarra, International Program
Manager, Coalition for Humane Immigration Reform (CHIRLA).
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