The Price of Peace: The Looming Human Rights Concerns Under El Salvador’s “War on Gangs” By: Mackenzie Bailey
El Salvador has, in recent decades, become notorious for its extreme levels of violence, consistently ranking among the most violent nations in the world. [1]This violence, including homicides, sexual assaults, extortion, beatings, and murders, is largely driven by gang activity.[2] The surge in gang violence began in the 1990s, which has been partially attributed to United States mass deportation of over 4,000 gang members from Los Angeles to El Salvador.[3] This led to a rapid increase in gang numbers, with an estimated 60,000 gang members spread across all 14 Salvadoran states.[4] Weak economic conditions, ineffective governance, and failed policies, coupled with unsuccessful attempts at ceasefires, did little to curb the rising violence.[5] By 2015, El Salvador had become the deadliest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 105 homicides per 100,000 people.[6]
A pivotal moment in the country’s battle against gang violence occurred in March 2022 when the notorious gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18 launched a wave of indiscriminate killings.[7] Over 72 hours, 87 lives were lost, with gang members targeting everyday citizens such as street vendors, bus passengers, and marketgoers.[8] March 26 became the bloodiest day since the civil war, with 62 homicides reported.[9] Gangs even left bodies in public view to instill fear.[10] In response, President Nayib Bukele, the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator,” declared an unprecedented state of emergency exception to address the crisis directly.[11]
The state of emergency, enacted on March 27, 2022, is a significant departure from traditional emergency measures, which are usually short-term responses to natural disasters or pandemics.[12] Bukele's “iron fist” approach has heavily constrained constitutional rights, allowing for relaxed arrest protocols to aggressively target gang members.[13] Under this new policy, key constitutional rights were suspended, leading to detainees being held without warrants or supporting evidence.[14] Additionally, those arrested lost the right to a court hearing within 72 hours.[15] This “iron fist” policy enabled security forces to conduct coordinated armed attacks on gangs, resulting in the rapid arrest of over 33,000 people in the first two months.[16]
Many Salvadorans, including Antonio Ventura, have expressed support for Bukele’s “war on gangs.”[17] Ventura, who had been forced to pay $100 a month in extortion to gang members for over two decades, along with an additional $100 “Christmas bonus” for gang celebrations, explained: "I had to pay up, or if not they could make me disappear. It’s not that I wanted to pay, I just had to...”[18] Like Ventura, many Salvadorans faced violence if they failed to meet extortion demands.[19] Under gang control, citizens lived in constant fear, unable to wear certain sneakers like Nike or Adidas, listen to specific music, or even have religious tattoos as these activities were reserved for gang members and could be mistaken for gang affiliations.[20]
While Bukele’s crackdown has garnered widespread admiration among Salvadorans for restoring freedoms and reducing gang influence,[21] the state of emergency has raised serious human rights concerns both domestically and internationally.[22]
One of the most troubling aspects of the “war on gangs” is its far-reaching impact on children. On March 30, 2022, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 12 for children accused of crimes related to “terrorist organizations” or “unlawful association.”[23] Children aged 12 to 16 can now be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, while those over 16 face up to 20 years.[24] This directly violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which El Salvador is party, which defines a child as anyone under 18.[25]
The government's arbitrary arrest campaign has led to the prolonged detention of many children with no clear ties to gang violence.[26] Arrests have often been based on a child’s appearance or socioeconomic status rather than concrete evidence, and in some cases, authorities have acted on anonymous tips without verification.[27] Security forces have also made arrests without presenting warrants or providing clear reasons to the detainees or their families.[28]
Allegations of coercion and abuse during enforcement are on the rise.[29] For example, a 16-year-old high school student was stopped by soldiers on his way home from a soccer match, forced to strip, burned with a cigarette lighter, and ordered to confess to gang affiliations.[30] He was later sentenced to six years in prison based on the testimony of an anonymous informant.[31] Another case involved a 17-year-old girl arrested without a warrant on July 1, 2022.[32] By January 2023, a judge pressured her and seven other children into pleading guilty to collaborating with the MS-13 gang in exchange for reduced sentences.[33] “We didn’t have an option,” she said. “We all wanted to see our mothers.”[34]
The state of emergency has also exacerbated dangerous conditions in detention facilities. Although the government has stated that children have a right not to be held in adult prisons, overcrowding, understaffing, and violence have been widespread.[35] Detained children face risks of beatings and sexual abuse, with little protection from authorities.[36]Many have had no contact with their families for weeks or months; some have only been allowed brief meetings with lawyers before hearings.[37] With an estimated 3,000 children detained, concerns about human rights violations are mounting.[38]
The issue extends beyond children. El Salvador has broadly defined “terrorist organizations” to include any group that uses “violent or inhumane methods to instill terror, insecurity, or alarm within the population” or assumes state powers.[39] Consequently, sentences for those convicted of leading “terrorist” gangs have been increased to 30-40 years, while participants in such groups now face 15-20 years in prison.[40]
This vague legal language has led to the arrest of over 70,000 people in two years, many of whom have no clear connection to gangs.[41] One such person is José Muval Mata, who was arrested while heading home and accused of “gang association.” Despite a judge ruling in his favor, Mata remains imprisoned in one of the country’s most notorious facilities: the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).[42] Here, prisoners are under constant surveillance and only allowed out of their cells for 30 minutes a day to exercise.[43] Further, concerns over detainee treatment under the "iron fist" policies have intensified with evidence of 235 deaths and 327 disappearances in state custody.[44]
The challenge moving forward will be to balance the evident gains in security with the need to address the serious human rights issues that persist. [45] His hardline approach has achieved a remarkable 70% reduction in homicides, resulting in a rate of just 2.4 per 100,000 people, which is among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere[46]However, this success comes at a significant cost: about 2% of the population is imprisoned under the extended state of emergency, and human rights institutions are reporting around 7,900 prisoner abuse complaints[47] As the state of emergency continues, El Salvador’s future will hinge on how well it balances safety and security with human rights.
[1] El Salvador leaves list of the most dangerous countries in the world, where it was for more than a decade, El Salvador News (June 14, 2022), https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2022/06/14/el-salvador-leaves-the-list-of-the-most-dangerous-countries-in-the-world-where-it-was-for-more-than-a-decade/.
[2] Alex Papadovassilakis, The Road to El Salvador’s State of Emergency, InSight Crime (Dec. 6, 2023), https://insightcrime.org/investigations/road-el-salvador-state-emergency/.
[3] Exporting US Gangs, Am. Econ. Ass’n (July 5, 2022), https://www.aeaweb.org/research/charts/exporting-criminal-capital-el-salvador-us; Oscar Martinez, A Brief History of El Salvador, Gangs, the U.S., and the Difficulties of Empathy, New Am. Story Project, https://newamericanstoryproject.org/context/brief-history-of-el-salvador/.
[4] Martinez, supra note 3.
[5] Id.
[6] Diana Roy, Why Has Gang Violence Spiked in El Salvador?, Council on Foreign Rel. (May 4, 2023), https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-has-gang-violence-spiked-el-salvador-bukele#:~:text=But%20the%20truce%20fell%20apart%20in%202014%20as,Western%20Hemisphere%2C%20with%20105%20homicides%20per%20100%2C000%20people.
[7] Alex Papadovassilakis, Gang Murder Rampage Sends Shockwaves Through El Salvador Government, InSight Crime (Mar. 28, 2022), https://insightcrime.org/news/gang-murder-rampage-sends-shockwaves-through-el-salvador-government/.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.; Natalie Reyes, From Gang Rule to Iron Fist: Questioning Progress in Bukele’s El Salvador, Chicago Pol’y Rev. (May 1, 2024),https://chicagopolicyreview.org/2024/05/01/from-gang-rule-to-iron-fist-questioning-progress-in-bukeles-el-salvador/.
[12] Alex Papadovassilakis, ’Too Many Soldiers’: How Bukele’s Crackdown Succeeded Where Others Failed, InSight Crime, (Dec. 6, 2023), https://insightcrime.org/investigations/too-many-soldiers-how-bukele-crackdown-succeeded-where-others-failed/; Papadovassilakis, supra note 2.
[13] Papadovassilakis, supra note 2.
[14] Id.
[15] Papadovassilakis, supra note 12.
[16] Id.
[17] Anastasia Moloney & Nelson Renteria, El Salvador citizens praise gang crackdown despite rights abuse claims, BusinessLive (Aug. 23, 2023), https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/americas/2023-08-23-el-salvador-citizens-praise-gang-crackdown-despite-rights-abuse-claims/.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Catalina Gil Pinzon, The Bukele model and the high cost of our peace of mind, El Pais (Mar. 30, 2023), https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-03-31/the-bukele-model-and-the-high-cost-of-our-peace-of-mind.html.
[21] Id.; Moloney & Renteria, supra note 17.
[22] El Salvador: One year into state of emergency, authorities are systematically committing human rights violations, Amnesty Int’l (Apr. 3, 2023), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/04/el-salvador-state-emergency-systematic-human-rights-violations/.
[23] El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights, Hum. Rts. Watch (Apr. 8, 2022), https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] El Salvador: Rights Violations Against Children in ”State of Emergency,” Hum. Rts. Watch (July 26, 2024), https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/16/el-salvador-rights-violations-against-children-state-emergency.
[27] Id.
[28] Id.
[29] Salvadoran minors pay price of gang crackdown, The New Humanitarian (July 16, 2024), https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2024/07/16/salvadoran-minors-pay-price-gang-crackdown.
[30] Id.
[31] Id.
[32] Id.
[33] Id.
[34] Id.
[35] Id.; Hum. Rts. Watch, supra note 23.
[36] Hum. Rts. Watch, supra note 26.
[37] Id.
[38] Id.
[39] ”We Can Arrest Anyone We Want,” Hum. Rts. Watch (Dec. 7, 2022), https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/12/07/we-can-arrest-anyone-we-want/widespread-human-rights-violations-under-el.
[40] Id.
[41] Will Grant, The nightmare of a young man in El Salvador’s feared Cecot prison despite the fact that the justice system twice ordered his release, BBC News (Aug. 27, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c07e5dm5e80o.
[42] Id.
[43] Id.; Leire Ventas, Coming face to face with inmates in El Salvador’s mega-jail, BBC (Feb. 14, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68244963.
[44] El Salvador Replacing Gang Violence with State Violence: Amnesty, WSJ (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.barrons.com/news/el-salvador-replacing-gang-violence-with-state-violence-amnesty-e1e552ba.
[45] President Bukele continues to lead the international approval ratings, El Salvador News 2 (Aug. 21, 2024), https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2024/08/21/president-bukele-continues-to-lead-the-international-approval-ratings; El Salvador’s President Bukele wins re-election by huge margin, BBC (Feb. 5, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68196826.
[46] El Salvador says murders fell 70% in 2023 as it cracked down on gangs, Reuters (Jan. 3, 2024), https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-says-murders-fell-70-2023-it-cracked-down-gangs-2024-01-03/.
[47] Ricardo Valencia, U.S. Citizens Are Getting Caught Up in El Salvador‘s Mass Arrests, Americas Quarterly (May 3, 2023), https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/u-s-citizens-are-getting-caught-up-in-el-salvadors-mass-arrests/#:~:text=Since%20March%202022%2C%20when%20the%20government%20of%20El,equivalent%20to%202%25%20of%20the%20country%E2%80%99s%20adult%20population;El Salvador extends anti-gang emergency decree for 24th time. It’s now been effect for two years, AP News (Mar. 9, 2024), https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-gang-crackdown-emergency-decree-154d50d40d1f2a46a48b6880624df141; Marta Hurtado, El Salvador state of emergency, United Nations (Mar. 28, 2023), https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/03/el-salvador-state-emergency.