Protesters gathered in El Salvador's capital on March 28 to denounce ongoing human rights abuses under the state of emergency that was first enacted a year ago in response to rampant gang violence. Since then, Salvadoran authorities have apprehended approximately 66,000 individuals, accusing them of being gang members, but many are believed to be innocent and wrongly detained. Our team recently spoke with a concerned mother whose son was arrested 11 months ago.
The Salvadoran parliament declared a month-long state of emergency in March 2022 after 87 individuals were killed in gang violence in just three days. In a country with an estimated 70,000 gang members among a population of only 6 million, authorities say more than 17,000 were already incarcerated before the state of emergency was implemented.
