PRESS STATEMENT
For immediate release
April 7, 2026
Contact: press@alianzaamericas.org / (773) 638-4278
Alianza Americas, a network of more than 55 organizations led by immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, reiterates its concern about the promotion of a security narrative through violations of constitutional rights. The Salvadoran government’s punitive security model is based on mass arrests without evidence, systematic torture, enforced disappearances, and deaths in state custody. The vast majority of the victims are impoverished and innocent people, though political and social leaders are also among them.
El Salvador has now spent four years under a state of exception that has ceased to be temporary and has become the new normal. Since March 27, 2022, the Salvadoran population has lived under suspended constitutional guarantees, which means they can be detained without knowing the reasons, are denied legal representation, can be held in prison indefinitely without seeing a judge, and their communications can be monitored without a court order. All of this has been extended month by month by the Legislative Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling Nuevas Ideas party. Contrary to President Bukele’s claim, democracy, economic opportunity, and addressing people’s needs create true security.
The facts speak for themselves. Numerous reports and complaints from civil society organizations highlight the scale and gravity of the situation. The Report of the International Group of Experts (GIPES) concludes that crimes against humanity have been committed in El Salvador. According to Socorro Jurídico Humanitario, approximately 1,300 people deprived of their liberty died in prisons over the past four years. Cristosal documented 245 cases of political persecution recorded between 2019 and 2025 in the report "The Price of Dissent". In another report, “You Have Arrived in Hell”, Human Rights Watch and Cristosal document the stories of several of the 251 Venezuelan men who report experiencing sexual violence, physical and verbal abuse, humiliation, and more after being illegally transported from the U.S. to El Salvador’s prison. It has been nearly a year since the detention of Ruth Eleonora López, a lawyer and head of Cristosal’s anti-corruption unit, and constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya.
The situation worsened with the passage of a constitutional amendment that introduced the punishment of life imprisonment. This maximum sentence will be imposed in a context marked by violations of constitutional guarantees, a lack of judicial independence, arrests based on police quotas, mass trials, judges whose identities are concealed, and a failure to adequately guarantee the right to a defense. In this context, life imprisonment represents the consolidation of a repressive apparatus with no time limits.
What is unfolding in El Salvador is not contained by borders, but instead risks normalizing abuses that undermine safety, dignity, and justice across the Western Hemisphere. Alianza Americas calls for mobilization and action by regional and international human rights bodies. We demand an end to the state of emergency, and a return to constitutional rule, under which detentions must be based on evidence, and the right to a defense, the presumption of innocence, and due process must be guaranteed. Freedom of expression must be respected as the foundation of any democratic society. Critical voices build democracy. Without democracy, there is no security.
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Alianza Americas is a transnational network of migrant-led organizations in the United States. We advocate for social justice, equity, and human rights in the Americas.
