Carta en ingles para tu representante en el exterior
I’m writing to you regarding the situation in El Salvador, where democracy is in peril. I’m asking your help from the British Parliament to improve the situation for thousands in that country.
Since May 2022, Britain began requiring a visa for Salvadorean nationals due to the massive influx of them into this country. The number of Salvadoran migrants had increased from previous years due to the anti-democratic situation they face. This is true even though the government of El Salvador has allegedly stopped the problem of gang violence with its permanent “state of exception,” its earlier agreement with gang leaders, and the recent incarceration of tens of thousands of Salvadoreans without due process.
While the state of exception may have lowered rates of gang violence, it has nevertheless cost El Salvador its democracy, rule of law, human rights, and the lives of many innocent citizens. And it has done nothing to combat the continuing problems of marginalization, poverty, exclusion, lack of opportunities, and corruption, leaving millions of Salvadoreans in crisis. Moreover, the recent mass-imprisonment of Salvadoreans is unsustainable. Prison has become a ticking time bomb for the country that sooner or later will explode, adding yet another crisis to the Salvadorean society.
As you can see in research like this from the Boston Globe (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/01/opinion/el-salvador-bukele-crime-crackdown-immigration/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results), the mass incarceration of people in El Salvador has not succeeded in lowering migration rates. El Salvador’s migration rates haven´t changed in comparison to neighboring countries like Honduras and Guatemala. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that the gap between rich and poor has increased according to OXFAM, and the poor majority have actually become poorer over the last 3 years.
There are four crucial elements negatively affecting the country at this moment: lack of rule of law, lack of accountability, political repression, and diplomatic support for this authoritarian government.
Lack of rule of law
From the situation in my home town, where the local mayor is illegally pursuing the construction of a shopping center by destroying a fragile forest in a nationally-protected environmental reserve, to the unconstitutional reelection of the president in the last election, there is no stability in the legal framework of the country. The most powerful, the bureaucrats, the armed forces, the corporations, and the wealthy can twist the law to their will.
In judicial processes, there is no principle of innocence, and those arrested can spend more than a year in prison before their case is even presented in court. There are people who, under the state of exception, have already spent more than 2 and a half years in prison just waiting for trial. More than 250 people have died while imprisoned and before getting to trial, with no consequences for the state, and no answers for the family, even though witnesses inside prisons have confirmed that most of the torture and beating comes from the prison guards themselves.
It is important to mention that the lack of law has increase the violence against women and homophobia in the last few years due the lack of interest of this government for the rights of this population.
Lack of accountability
Following the State’s 2019 official prohibition of government transparency, even the local municipal councils are now banning the publication of basic information to the public. As an example, the public is not allowed to know how much or how each MP spends their budget. Also, local councils and ministries are using the state prohibition to justify banning information on the business they conduct, including buying products abroad with public funding but not clarifying where they are buying from, or why the goods never arrive to the country.
When the media has discovered issues of corruption, the government simply stays quiet, waiting for the story to fade from the news. Nobody has the power to hold the government accountable for these reported abuses.
The Supreme Court is loyal to the president, and the level to corruption is such big that even the U.S.A. had to put them in the Engel List due their level of corruption. This leaves the country with no access to justice or accountability.
Political repression
There are four major modes of repression at the moment, all very subtle but effective:
a) The government has imprisoned dozens of political prisoners, accusing them of apolitical – and unsubstantiated – crimes. These people were involved with opposition political parties or social movements. The most recent is a small group of elderly men, all in their 70´s, and all former members of the ex-guerrilla political party, the FMLN. These men had organized a small social movement protesting the unconstitutional elections of 2024. Now all are in prison under an unsubstantiated allegation of an attempt of murder against the president. One of them was still recovering from a serious surgery. There is also the case of environmental activists who were successful in the banning of mining in the country years ago, and now are on trial based on an indirect witness declaration saying that all the activist were involved in a murder during the civil war in the 1980s.
b) Political intimidation. Salvadoreans live in fear, according to a recent university poll. People live in fear of the government, particularly of getting caught by the police or the army (who are also patrolling the streets), and put in prison where they can die or wait for a trial up to 3 years. When the state of exception started in 2022, several news agencies reported that police had to bring to prison a specific number of prisoners each week—a quota—and this led to many unjustified captures, sometimes based on one person simply reporting another to the police without evidence of any crime. This situation of injustice is in the air. At present, these arbitrary arrests are the core of a policy that the government is using in the city centre of San Salvador to dislodge all informal commerce (street vendors) from the zone, leaving entire families with no income.
c) Threatening Examples. The most famous example is the case of the former intelligence agent in the government, and “close friend” of Bukele, Alejandro Muyshondt, who publicly criticized the president’s political party. The government imprisoned Muyshondt for charges of passing information to a former president. The source of the allegations was an anonymous twitter account. Muyshondt died 6 months after his detention, and when his body was finally released, it had been lobotomized. This process of setting examples through aggressive violence against people that criticizes or are disloyal to the party or any official, has happened to others, in other ways, like burning their cars in front of their houses, letters “requesting” that they leave the country, or “burglars” coming into the houses of former bureaucrats to steal their computers and mobile phones.
d) Repression of opposition political parties. On one hand, Bukele’s government is leading civil trials against former MPs and former ministries or civil servants to take their resources, including their houses. On the other hand, in the case of one of only 3 opposition MPs in parliament, Claudia Ortiz is not allowed to use her MP budget, and the President´s party, which has full control in the parliament, terminated the contract for half of her personnel, making impossible her work as the opposition in the Parliament.
Diplomatic support for this authoritarian ruling
Finally, this untenable situation in El Salvador is supported by the international community. Embassies, including the European Union, say that it is better to keep open communication with Bukele’s government and not confront it. The problem with this posture is that it legitimates the undemocratic government, the lack of rule of law, the trust in an authoritarian government, and the acts of corruption and state-sanctioned violence allowed in the country. This is particularly worrisome given the level of debt that the country has amassed during the government of Nayib Bukele.
Democratic states like Britain should take a stand against the development of leaders like Bukele, not just because they are anti-democratic, but also because they are ineffective in solving the problems of the people, and at reducing migration levels. Most centrally, Britain should take a stand because Bukele is sending the wrong message to the world: that democracy is not working. Even in his twitter feed, Bukele used to proclaim that he was the “World’s coolest dictator.”
I think Britain should celebrate democracy, and should take steps to return democracy to countries like El Salvador, especially when the authoritarian way is not solving anything.
In this sense, I humbly request that you:
a) Consider calling upon the British ambassador for a deep review of the situation in El Salvador on the points that I present here. Also would like to point out that the British Embassy had a lot of attacks recently due to their very positive open campaign on defending LGBTQ+ rights, that the government of El Salvador is against to.
b) Consider, as the British government, requesting that the Salvadorean government release political prisoners, particularly elderly persons that require special medical attention like Atilo Montalvo, José Santos Melara. Ernesto Muyshondt (cousin of Alejandro) former mayor or the capital city in a critical situation mentally and physically and José Iván Arévalo Gómez, indigenous rights and environmentalist recently imprisoned.
c) Request that the Salvadorean government accelerate the trials for cases where families have presented proof of innocence and release immediately those that already have a letter of release yet are still in prison. Also request the firm implementation inside the prisons of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that El Salvador signed decades ago.
d) Request that the Salvadorean Government guarantee the most minimal transparency, particularly for the parliament, which is supposed to be a space that speaks for the nation.
e) Consider not supporting the Salvadorean Government as long as it denies the rule of the law. Request steps to reinstate the most basic principles of democracy.
f) Support MP Claudia Ortiz to have her right to exercise her role as opposition to the rule of an official one-party state, the party of the unconstitutional president. If possible, request a meeting with her.
g) Request that the British ambassador make efforts to lobby the diplomatic community surrounding El Salvador, particularly the European Union, to act in favor of democracy, rule of law, justice, transparency and human rights.
I´m available to explain my argument further and to share contacts that may facilitate an engagement with the situation in El Salvador in order to develop a better approach from the international community.
Hoping this letter finds you well, and looking forward to hearing from you,