01/11/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/10/2024 23:10
January 11, 2024
John Cavanagh, Pedro Cabezas, Olivia Alperstein
San Salvador and Washington, D.C. - On January 11, the Central American Alliance on Mining (ACAFREMIN), the Institute for Policy Studies, MiningWatch Canada, Pax Christi International, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the SHARE Foundation, the United Church of Canada, and the Washington Ethical Society co-released a new fact-finding report on the "State of Deception/ Estado de DecepciĆ³n" in El Salvador . The report draws on interviews and careful analysis of evidence and materials from a fact-finding delegation to El Salvador sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and the SHARE Foundation that took place October 15-20, 2023.
The reportcomes a month before the critical general elections in El Salvador on February 4, 2024, when voters will elect the president, vice president and all 60 deputies of the Legislative Assembly, all of whom will set major policy decisions for the next five years and thus have a critical impact on the state of the economy and the state of democracy in the country for many years to come.
The fact-finding reportcarefully examines the weak, politicized case against the five prominent water defenders known as the "Santa Marta 5," and the politicized nature of the arrests of 17 prominent Salvadoran labor leaders. The report authors call on the government to drop all the charges against these community leaders and to release them, and call on other nations to hold the government accountable for these wrongful arrests and for human rights violations.
The new reportalso highlights the full extent of human rights abuses under the Bukele administration, as well as evidence that the Bukele administration would like to bring back mining, in part due to fallout from economic policy decisions such as overreliance on cryptocurrency.
This report was published a week after the January 4 release of a letter in Spanish and Englishco-signed by 185 respected academics and lawyers calling on the Bukele administration to drop all charges against and to immediately release the five prominent water defenders who were arrested exactly a year agoon January 11, 2023, and to release the 17 prominent labor leaders in El Salvador currently held on politically-motivated charges.
Key report findings include:
The co-authors of the report conclude their analysis with a strong recommendation to Bukele's government to release and drop the charges against the Salvadoran water defenders and labor leaders, as well as a strong recommendations for the United States, Canada, Mexico and other nations to exert their influence over aid to El Salvador to hold the government accountable for human rights violations and demand critical protections for Salvadoran communities.
"We were shocked by the level of fear of arbitrary arrest among ordinary people in El Salvador today," said John Cavanagh of the Institute for Policy Studies and a member of the delegation. "It is incumbent upon the United States, Canada, and other nations to show they respect democracy and the rule of law by speaking out against these unlawful arrests and the abuse of basic democratic principles."
Report in English: https://ips-dc.org/report-state-of-deception-human-rights-under-bukele/
Report in Spanish: https://ips-dc.org/informe-estado-de-decepcion
Report co-authors are available for further comment, information, and interviews in Spanish and English.
Press contacts:
John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies: [email protected], +1 (202) 297-4823
Pedro Cabezas, Central American Alliance against Mining (ACAFREMIN) and International Allies Against Mining in El Salvador: [email protected], +503-7498-4423
Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, [email protected], +1 (202) 704-9011
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Lea este aviso de prensa en espaƱol.