I am writing today to ask you to sign on to an international letter expressing alarm about the escalating attacks on human and constitutional rights in El Salvador, including unlawful arrests and detention against members of the political opposition.
Here’s the letter in Spanish (and translation in English) the sign up page
As you may be following, the people of El Salvador are facing a human rights emergency after President Bukele imposed a nationwide State of Exception at the end of March. Now entering its sixth month, the State of Exception suspends fundamental constitutional rights, such as the right to assembly and the right to an attorney. Over 50,000 people have been arrested without warrants, with the vast majority now being held in extended pre-trial detention. The staggering level of arbitrary arrests has sparked a new wave of protest from family members of thousands of innocent people who have little to no other recourse.
However, the attacks on constitutional rights and due process did not begin with the State of Exception. Between April and November 2021, over a dozen public figures from the leftist opposition FMLN party were unlawfully arrested (read more here).
A few have been released to house arrest but nine remain in prison under extended pre-trial detention without any evidence having been presented against them; as their family members have said, “It’s as if they are serving a sentence without ever having been to trial.” While in prison, they have experienced systematic violation of their human and constitutional rights, including the right to see their attorneys, to medical attention, and to see their family members.
It is essential that we speak out against these unlawful arrests and other forms of political persecution that are clearly intended to silence dissenting voices and dismantle the organized popular opposition, as well as against the overall crisis under the State of Exception.
Again, here’s the letter in Spanish (and translation in English) and the sign up page to sign on before August 22.
For the past year, CISPES has been accompanying the work of a new group, the Committee of Family Members of Political Prisoners of El Salvador (COFAPPES). Given the Bukele administration’s near-complete control over the judicial system at this point - having illegally removed and replaced all five magistrates of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber, the Attorney General, and hundreds of judges across the country - COFAPPES is clear that international solidarity is essential to their struggle, including to shine an international media spotlight on these abuses.
In support of COFAPPES’ demands, CISPES is currently circulating an organizational sign-on letter to the Attorney General, the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Constitutional Chamber calling on them to respect and uphold constitutional law for all Salvadorans as well as to act impartially and swiftly to release political prisoners and others being held in violation of due process. The letters will be delivered at the end of August.
Would you be able to sign on? We are asking for signatures by Monday, August 22 so the letter can be delivered later that week. You can sign up here.
Let me know of any questions, concerns or ideas. Thank you for your solidarity.
Allan
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