
El Salvador
The administration of President Nayib Bukele has launched an assault on democratic institutions, including by summarily replacing the attorney general and all the judges in the constitutional chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court. After Bukele’s allies won a legislative majority in May 2021, they passed legislation that undermined judicial independence, including by arbitrarily dismissing lower court judges and prosecutors, and restricted transparency.
In recent years, state security forces have committed egregious abuses, including extrajudicial executions, sexual assaults, and enforced disappearances. Authorities have routinely failed to investigate crimes and in many cases 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.

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AmericasFor decades, gang violence has been Salvadorans’ major security concern. Salvadoran gangs forcibly recruit children and sexually assault, kill, abduct, rape, and displace people. The response by prior governments typically oscillated between two failed strategies: obscure negotiations with gangs and iron fist security policies that led to rights violations. Investigative work by El Faro indicates that, despite a massive official campaign, the strategy put forward by President Nayib Bukele’s government has been no different.
Videos
Videos-
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“Every Day I Live in Fear”
Violence and Discrimination Against LGBT People in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and Obstacles to Asylum in the United States
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News
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El Salvador: Transgender People Denied Equal Rights
Heed Supreme Court Ruling; Create Legal Gender Recognition Procedure
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El Salvador: Evidence of Serious Abuse in State of Emergency
Arbitrary Arrests, Short-Term Disappearances, Deaths in Custody
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El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights
Harsh Prison Sentences for Children, Restrictions on Free Press
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El Salvador’s Broad Computer Crime Laws Threaten Rights
New Provisions Could Undermine Privacy, Chill Speech
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El Salvador Releases Woman Imprisoned after Miscarriage
Women Should Not be Imprisoned for Obstetric Emergencies
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El Salvador: Critics Blocked on Social Media
President Bukele Violates Free Speech, Access to Information Rights
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