Bukele ramps up repression
May 20, 2025
Salvadoran authorities arrested prominent human rights lawyer Ruth López on Sunday night. (See yesterday’s briefs.) López, head of the Anti-Corruption and Justice Unit at Cristosal, a human rights organization that has been critical of the government. López’s unit has published dozens of reports and filed legal cases related to government corruption.
“The only reason for this detention is that I am a human rights defender and work for an NGO uncomfortable for the government,” López said upon her arrest. She told the officers: “Have some decency; one day this will all end. You must not play into this.” (El Faro)
The arrest prompted outcry from human rights groups and experts in El Salvador and abroad, who say that Bukele has ramped up a crackdown on the press and civil society, emboldened by his alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump, report the New York Times and the Guardian.
The arrest is the latest in a spate of repression and arrests that mark Bukele’s sixth year in power, notes El Faro: in recent days the government revived a bill to tax donations to civil society groups, deployed the Military Police to disperse demonstrators from Bukele’s personal residence, and ordered detentions including López’s. (See May 14’s briefs.)
Three of El Faro reporters still remaining in El Salvador were forced to flee earlier this month after reports that the Bukele government was preparing to arrest them, reports the Washington Post.
Earlier this month, transportation business owners were arrested for allegedly failing to cooperate with a government promise to provide free bus service in the wake of a road closure. (El Diario de Hoy) “As of May 10, the National Transportation Board reported that 16 business owners from the sector had been arrested on accusations of dereliction of duty, refusal to provide assistance, embezzlement, and extortion. One detainee, Roberto Jaco, died four days later from medical complications in custody,” reports El Faro.
Bolsonaro trial starts
The Supreme Court trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began yesterday. He faces charges that he plotted a coup d’etat and led a “criminal organization” to overturn the result of the October 2022 election, in which he was defeated by current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reports Al Jazeera.
Bolsonaro, 70, attended the hearing wearing a yellow Brazilian football jersey, a symbol of patriotism for his right-wing supporters. He could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the landmark trial.
More than 80 people -- including high-ranking military officers, former government ministers and police and intelligence officials -- are set to testify in a preliminary trial phase that opened yesterday and is expected to last at least two weeks.
A former army commander told Brazil's Supreme Court, yesterday, that he had attended a meeting with Bolsonaro where a "state of siege" was discussed as a possible means of overturning the far-right ex-president's election defeat, reports AFP.
More Brazil
Brazil’s environmental agency, Ibama, decided it will let state-run oil firm Petrobras (move a step closer to drilling for oil in a coveted offshore Foz do Amazonas basin, reports Reuters.
Journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were killed while investigating the impact of deforestation. The Guardian published an extract from the book Phillips was writing at the time of his death, in which he reflects on his encounters with the rainforest and its people – and why it is so vital to save this precious place.
Colombia
Colombian President Gustavo Petro presented a new referendum proposal — technically a popular consultation — just days after the Senate rejected his call for a referendum on labor reform. The new plan would include the narrowly rejected labor referendum, but would also include aspects of a health reform bill previously rejected by Congress, reports El País. (See May 15’s post.)
Colombia’s labor unions and several social organizations announced a 48-hour national strike seeking congressional support for Petro’s reform proposals - Colombia Reports.
A Colombian model and influencer’s murder is now being investigated as a possible femicide. The case has triggered widespread outrage and renewed criticism of the country’s failure to protect women, reports the Guardian.
Mexico
The personal secretary and an adviser to Mexico City’s mayor, Clara Brugada, were killed by gunmen on a motorcycle in a brazen daylight attack in a central part of the city, today. (Guardian, Associated Press)
Mexico’s first judicial elections will take place on June 1. Much of the debate has centered on whether the reform was good or bad, and in what ways. But the Latin America Risk Report asks how to evaluate the actual results, given that candidates are not affiliated with political parties. James Bosworth suggests analyzing: who wins the Supreme Court, which has all nine seats up for grabs; the five winners of the newly conformed Judicial Tribunal; and voter turnout.
Regional Relations
Ronald Johnson, CIA veteran, former Green Beret, and friend of Bukele formally presented his ambassadorship credentials yesterday to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, reports El País: “Donald Trump’s hawk has arrived in Mexico.”
Venezuela
Venezuelan authorities said they detained more than 30 people — 21 Venezuelans and 17 foreigners — accused of plotting destabilization attacks ahead of state and legislative elections on Sunday. Yesterday Venezuela’s government banned the arrival of flights from Colombia in relation to the alleged anti-government scheme, reports the Associated Press.
Venezuelan authorities regularly decry conspiracies and planned attacks against President Nicolas Maduro, the country's power grid and other targets, notes Reuters.
Deportations
At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute. (Guardian)
The United States sent 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their countries, yesterday, the first government-funded flight of what the Trump administration is calling voluntary deportations, reports the Associated Press.
The U.S. Trump administration has devised plans to spend up to $250 million earmarked for foreign assistance to finance the removal and return of people from active conflict zones, including Haitian migrants who fled to the United States amid extreme, ongoing violence back home, according to draft internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.
Regional
An summit in Ecuador this week will gather Indigenous leaders from around the region for talks on how to enforce Inter-American Court of Human Rights rulings designed to enforce their rights to justice and territorial protection. “There is growing concern that without stronger legal protections, government enforcement and adequate resources, the Costa Rica-based court’s rulings will remain largely symbolic,” reports the Associated Press.
Ecuador
A judge in Ecuador ruled former vice president Jorge Glas will face trial for alleged misuse of public funds allocated to rebuild areas affected by a devastating 2016 earthquake - Reuters
French Guiana
“French plans to build a maximum-security prison wing for drug traffickers and Islamic militants near a former penal colony in French Guiana have sparked an outcry among local people and officials,” reports the Associated Press. “The announcement angered many across French Guiana, an overseas French department located in South America. It was once an infamous colony known for holding French political prisoners, including army Capt Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused of being a spy.”
Culture Corner
After Beto Montenegro’s band Rawayana were driven out of Venezuela by Nicolás Maduro, the singer joined with Li Saumet of Bomba Estéreo “to make music that battles political strife with pure joy,” reports the Guardian.