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There are no investigations. Police just create “profiles.” These are arbitrary acts. For example, a neighbor calls 123 and says, “I saw some young men using drugs.” A report is filed, the police arrive, and an intelligence investigator creates a “profile” in a PowerPoint template. That “profile” becomes the “evidence” that someone is a gang member. 

This is the account of one of 11 police officers from El Salvador that Human Rights Watch interviewed for a new report. 

These accounts provide a rare insight into how the Salvadoran police have fabricated evidence to fulfill arrests quotas, extorted innocent people, bypassed due process, and defied court orders. 

In 2022, President Nayib Bukele announced a “war on gangs” in violence-ridden El Salvador and declared a state of emergency. 

This has led to widespread human rights violations in the country. 

Although gang violence has significantly decreased in El Salvador, the lack of due process guarantees, and judicial independence exposes Salvadorans to abuses by unchecked security forces. 

Since the state of emergency started, security forces have reported arresting over 86,000 people (that is over 1.5 percent of the entire population), including more than 3,000 children. 

How do you reach those numbers? Police officers told HRW that many arrests were the result of pressure on police officers to meet daily arrest quotas and were based on dubious or fabricated evidence. 

They also described arrests because someone had a tattoo of any kind, on patently false information included in police reports, and on uncorroborated anonymous calls.  

On top of that, police officers also talked about a climate of impunity that led some officers to demand bribes and, in some cases, demand sex from women in exchange for not arresting their relatives. 

While President Bukele publicizes his security policies as a positive model for the world, the police officers HRW spoke with tell a completely different story. 

Experience suggests the abusive behavior will only worsen and spread if police are not held strictly accountable… 

Budapest Pride: This weekend the Hungarian capital transformed into a beacon of resistance. Pride was more than a celebration of LGBT rights; it was a clear and courageous stand for democracy, dignity, and the rule of law, with a record crowd attending. 

Malawi: About a dozen weapon-wielding men in Malawi attacked demonstrators peacefully protesting the government’s handling of upcoming national elections. The police’s apparent unwillingness to intervene, raises grave concerns about the government’s ability to conduct the September general election in a fair and impartial manner. 

EU Supply Chain Law: European Union member states led by France and Germany are taking a wrecking ball to their commitment to protect human rights and the environment in global supply chains. There is still a chance to stop this race to the bottom in the EU Parliament. Both victims of corporate abuse and EU consumers deserve better. 

Please send us your suggested links via email, Instagram, Mastodon, LinkedIn, or Bluesky. 

Today, we have a mix of your recommendations along with a couple of ours, compiled by Ines Mhand:  

• Israeli strike on Gaza seafront cafe kills at least 20 Palestinians, witnesses and rescuers say (BBC) 
• Clashes and arrests in Türkiye over magazine cartoon allegedly depicting prophet Muhammad (The Guardian) 
• Trump ends Syria sanctions, orders terror designation review (DW)
• Kenyan street vendor shot by police during protests dies (ABCnews) 
• Cuba trans community sees glimmer of hope in proposed legislation (Reuters) 
• Haiti on the edge of collapse (HRW) 
• Over 14 million people could die from US foreign aid cuts, study says (Le Monde, English) 
• Arrest Putin if he visits Brazil (HRW)   

What readers clicked on most in the last edition of the Daily Brief: Rusted screws, metal spikes and plastic rubbish: the horrific sexual violence used against Tigray’s women (The Guardian)  

Last year, we told the story of how President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and arbitrarily detained tens of thousands of people, including children. El Salvador now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.  

This year, the story took a darker turn. The Trump administration deported over 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they were locked up in a maximum-security prison with no way to challenge their detention.  

In this episode of the Rights & Wrongs podcast, host Ngofeen Mputubwele discusses the chilling update on the dangerous deal between Trump and Bukele— and how it signals Trump’s growing alliance with authoritarian leaders to advance his hardline agenda.  

Listen now.