HRW warned that Bukele had led El Salvador to an authoritarian debacle that would only be surpassed by a coup

The Acting Deputy Director for the Americas of Human Rights Watch (HRW), John Paperpointed out this Friday on Twitter that The Savior goes through aauthoritarian debacle”.

“El Salvador’s authoritarian debacle would only be surpassed by a country with a military coup and the Talibanwrote Pappier, who shared a thread of local media posts Lighthouse in reference to Democracy Report 2023.

The document, from Institute Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) of the Gothenburg University, points out that under the government of Nayib Bukele he “stepped up his repression against journalists and freedom of the press» and that with Tunisia «they are no longer democracies”.

The report also places this Central American country in the group of “electoral autocracies”.

In October 2022, the political scientist and researcher Alvaro Artiga said in an interview with the news agency EFE that El Salvador “is moving” towards “a situation similar to that of Nicaragua” with a “authoritarian judiciary”.

Some decisions and actions of the Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukeleraised the alarm of national and international organizations, which indicated that El Salvador “moves” towards authoritarianism.

The opposition MP Claudia Ortiz said ECEalso in October 2022, which El Salvador took steps towards authoritarianism ‘strongly and quickly’”.

On February 9, 2019, when the Salvadoran president entered legislative Assembly escorted by police and soldiers armed with assault rifles, various voices spoke of a “authoritarian drift” by Bukele and, according to Ortiz, other steps have been taken towards “authoritarian destiny”.

In March 2021, the Salvadoran president indicated that his country “will not be a dictatorship” after the ruling party’s large victory in the February elections of that year and indicated that will promote dialoguefrom which he will exclude the opposition.

“El Salvador will not be a dictatorship, as some activists, analysts, journalists and unelected politicians want to believe,” President Bukele said.

UNITED STATES said Thursday that the government of Nayib Bukele has the “responsibility” to guarantee the safety of the population, in addition to respect human rights and guarantees of due process.

This was expressed by a spokesperson for the state department when questioned by ECE about the controversial Salvador prison to which 2,000 suspected gang members were transferred last Friday.

Images of bare-chested prisoners with signature gang tattoos, handcuffed, squatting and huddled together, have traveled the world in recent days, with many detractors for the lack of humanity in their treatment.

“We recognize the challenge El Salvador faces in addressing gang violence“, declared the spokesman of the American diplomacy.

“Guaranteeing public safety is the responsibility of governments,” he added. Also have a responsibility to ensure due process and respect human rights”.

According to official figures, under the exceptional regimeapproved a year ago after an escalation in killings, arrested more than 64,000 people, whom the Salvadoran government accuses of belonging to gangs and of whom more than 3,300 have been released.

Salvadoran humanitarian organizations and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH) have received more than 7,900 complaints of abuse, most of them for arbitrary detentions.

(With information from EFE)

Continue reading: