The United States asked El Salvador on Wednesday to rescind the current emergency regime “as soon as the situation allows” of violence in the countryand urged him to respect the human rights of all salvadoransincluding detainees.
Asked by the news agency EFEa spokesman for the White House National Security Council reacted to the situation in El Salvador, which this Wednesday celebrates eleven days under an emergency regime after an escalation of murders that claimed the lives of more than 80 people.
The spokesman assured that the United States is “concerned” by the “three-day peak” in homicides registered in El Salvador between March 25 and 27, and that his thoughts “are with the Salvadoran people affected by the violence.”.
The Salvadoran Government has responded to this problem with mass arrests and total confinement for detained gang membersin addition to the imposition of an exceptional regime that has generated criticism from organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI).
“We urge the Government of El Salvador to carefully consider how it implements the measures derived from the current state of emergency, and to rescind that state of emergency as soon as the situation allows.”, he stated to EFE the aforementioned White House spokesman, who requested anonymity.
“We also call on the security forces, including the Police and prison officials, to observe and protect the human rights of all Salvadorans, including detainees.”, added the spokesman.
This Monday, the president of El Salvador, Nayib B Watchwarned the gangs that if homicides increase in the country, they will take away the food in the prisons where, according to the Government, thousands of members of said structures are imprisoned.
Amnesty International has called on the Salvadoran government to guarantees the rights of persons deprived of libertyamong which the right to personal integrity and not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment stand out.
The emergency regime approved at the end of March by the Legislative Assembly, with a large pro-government majority, at the request of Bukele, has an expected duration of 30 days, that is, until the end of this month.
As a consequence of this measure, adopted without any study or discussion, several constitutional rights have been suspendedamong them that of defense during a judicial process and the inviolability of telecommunications for Salvadorans.
The government has made mass arrests of alleged gang members in what he has called a “war against the gangs”, as his predecessors did.
Social organizations and the Salvadoran ombudsman’s office, Apollonius Tobarhave collected since the emergency regime began more than 100 complaints of human rights violationsmainly for arbitrary arrests.
(With information from EFE)
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