Nayib Bukele's government approved a new reform on August 22 through a legislative assembly controlled by his Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party that expanded thousands of arrests in the five-year exclusion period without being tried.
By reforming “Special Laws Against Organized Crime” – approved by 57 of 60 legislators – More than 88,000 people have been detained since their first enactment on March 27, 2022, and will last in prison for two years.
It has been more than three years since the Buckler administration and lawmakers enacted the exception status, which has prompted thousands of people to be imprisoned under the measure without appearing before judges.
Human rights groups such as Cristosal are among the most outstanding critics in the exceptional state, statement This reform effectively legalizes expected sentences in Central American countries.
Buckler’s state of emergency is his government’s main security strategy, and the ruling congress has been repeatedly extended since March 2022 as a wave of homicides has been released by a collapse of the government’s agreement with the country’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18.
The measure suspends constitutional guarantees for all El Salvadorians, including a 72-hour limit on administrative detention, right to defense and telecommunications privacy. according to For organizations in the U.S. state, this led to the arrest of 88,875 people.
In detention centers, human rights groups have recorded thousands of reports, including thousands of arbitrary arrests, torture and more than 400 deaths of those who were imprisoned during their imprisonment.
This is not the first time the Buckley administration has extended the deadline for prosecution of thousands of detainees. On July 26, 2023, the Office of the El Salvador Attorney General asked the Legislative Council to approve the initial two-year period to prosecute presumed gang members under the “single case”, using standards such as “structure, denomination, denomination, action and territory”, and under the “special transitional provisions”, the defendants detained within the framework of the state were prosecuted under the “special transitional provisions”. ”
These regulations expired in August 2025, and the Attorney General's Office once again requested an extension of the two-year extension to present evidence against detainees.
“Expected sentence legalization”
With recent reforms, the Attorney General will now have up to four years of investigation, while thousands of preventive detentions – which can actually be extended to five years before the defendants face the initial hearing.
In exceptional cases, El Salvador law requires a trial in just six months.
Human rights non-governmental organizations, including Cristosal and Gruantarias Arival Aid Group, condemned the Berkle administration for “legalizing” the expected prison sentence.
exist statement Cristosal, released via social media, warns that people who remain imprisoned under exceptional conditions can now last in prison for five years without a fair trial.
“The reform allows the investigation phase to be extended for more than five years, during which thousands will be detained with exceptions and will not be able to conduct a judicial assessment of the alleged evidence,” the NGO said.
“Later, they have to face a public hearing that can last two years. This turns preventive detention into a real expected sentence,” the group added.
Roxana Cardona, a criminal attorney and spokesman for the social justice and citizen supervision campaign, believes that the deadline requested by the El Salvador prosecutor's office violates the detainee's right to defend because the detention should last for two years.
“There is fear now. Now we are not defending the case, but the application of rights. Preventive detention is seen as a sentence because people are imprisoned as if they have been convicted.” She stressed in her conversation with it. Latin American Report.
Cardona added: “This reverses the principle of defense: no longer assumes innocence.”
The ruling Nuevas conceived party lawmakers granted prosecutors more time to defend themselves to present evidence against those deprived of their liberty to frame the response to mass arrests.
Caleb Navarro, deputy leader of the New Thought Caucus, believes that the extended deadline will allow for faster judicial proceedings.
“The expected measures aim to build a professional and dynamic model for justice to be effective and accelerated in order to respond to the reality of more than 88,750 detained gang members who are accused of belonging to criminal groups,” Navarro said. statement In the conference procedure.
On the other hand, Claudia Ortíz, a lawmaker in the opposition Wamos Party, criticized the reform, calling it “a reflection of the government's inability to achieve justice.”
“They have had over two years of serious investigation of all cases and bringing detainees to trial, and since the agency has not done so in time, the Council must now help the prosecutor’s office and give more time,” she said. statement.
Impact on the family
Ingrid Escobar, the lead spokesman for the Humanitarian Legal Aid Group, was exiled for persecution, criticizing the use of exceptional status to criticize innocent people.
Since 2022, the organization has provided legal support to families, repeatedly highlighting the serious financial and psychological losses caused to the relatives of the incarcerated.
“This ordeal for detainees and their families is extending. Families have spent three years on the cost of providing food packages to their relatives, and the state has no responsibility to keep these people alive,” Sara Alfaro, a volunteer for the organization, told the organization. Latin American Report.
Detained families spend up to $100 to prepare survival packages for incarcerated family members. Often, these supplies won't be delivered.
Alfaro recalls that some of the people who were imprisoned in exceptions even received a release order issued by the court, but were still in jail.
After controversial reforms to the El Salvador judicial system, over 80,000 detainees will be judged by 44 organized crime judges and prosecuted by aides of 300 prosecutors who must present evidence in 600 judicial proceedings.
Human rights groups describe it as a “abstract trial” that neither guarantees judicial justice nor is it a personalized consideration of the case.
Featured Images:
Image: Family members of detained individuals protest
source: Movimiento de Víctimas del Régimen, El Salvador by X
