El Salvador

Since taking office, President Nayib Bukele has launched an assault on democratic institutions, including by using the military to press legislators to approve a bill and using his majority in Congress to summarily remove and replace all the judges on the constitutional chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court, as well as the attorney general. His administration implemented abusive Covid-19 related measures such as inhumane conditions for prisoners and created a hostile environment for media.

El Salvador has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, partially due to corruption and impunity. State security forces have committed egregious abuses, including extrajudicial executions, sexual assaults, and enforced disappearances. The authorities have failed to investigate crimes and collaborated with gangs. Gangs exercise territorial control, extort residents, and kill, disappear, rape, or displace those who resist them. Girls and women alleged to have had abortions have been imprisoned for homicide.