Salvadoran arrests based on dubious evidence - HRW
June 27, 2025
Many of arrests carried out during El Salvador’s ongoing “war against gangs” were the result of pressure on police officers to meet daily arrest quotas, and were based on dubious or fabricated evidence, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. Interviews with police officers and internal police documents reveal abusive practices that have led to arbitrary detention and abuse of power in El Salvador’s three-year-old security crackdown.
“They described arrests based on the fact that someone had a tattoo of any kind, on patently false information included in police reports, and on uncorroborated anonymous calls. The officers also described a climate of impunity that led some officers to demand bribes and, in some cases, demand sex from women in exchange for not arresting their relatives.”
The quotas were imposed after Bukele declared a state of emergency in 2022, which remains in effect today, and oversaw a campaign of mass arrests, reports the New York Times, which also spoke to some of the officers in question.
Police had believed that people arrested in the early push would quickly be released after investigations, interviewed officers said. But the legal system rapidly became another tool in the crackdown: lawmakers lifted the limit on how long people brought in on gang charges could be held without a trial. Most of those detained in early 2022 are still behind bars, reports the New York Times.
Since March 2022, El Salvador has been under a state of emergency, which suspended some due process rights. Security forces have since reported arresting over 86,000 people, including more than 3,000 children. El Salvador has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world.
Colombia
Gangs in Colombia are increasingly recruiting children into their ranks, with a notable number coerced over TikTok and Facebook, according to the United Nations. Children are promised motorbikes, mobile phones and money, with girls also offered cosmetic surgery. Investigators from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) said such content spread rapidly, with some posts receiving up to 625,000 views.(Guardian)
Brazil
Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that social media platforms can be held legally responsible for users’ posts, in a decision that tightens regulation on technology giants in the country. Companies such as Facebook, TikTok and X will have to act immediately to remove material such as hate speech, incitement to violence or “anti-democratic acts”, even without a prior judicial takedown order, as a result of the decision, reports the Financial Times.
Brazil’s Congress nullified a presidential decree for the first time in decades, on Wednesday, rejecting a move by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to hike a financial transactions tax and signaling flagging support for his administration, reports the Associated Press.
Costa Rica
Costa Rican investigators said the recent assassination of Nicaraguan dissident Roberto Samcam Ruiz (see last Friday’s post) could be the work of cells operating in Costa Rica under orders from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. (Confidencial)
Haiti
Haitian Lourda Jean Pierre died shortly after giving birth at home in the Dominican Republic. She was scared to seek medical attention after seeing images of pregnant women and new mothers being rounded up in hospitals by immigration agents, reports the Guardian.
Regional
“China is rapidly expanding its influence over maritime ports across Latin America and the Caribbean. By building, financing, and buying up key ports, Chinese firms have become deeply embedded in the physical infrastructure connecting the region’s dynamic maritime economy,” according to a new Center for Strategic and International Studies report. “While these investments bring commercial opportunity, they also open the door for Beijing to gain strategic leverage, collect sensitive data, and expand its geopolitical influence closer to U.S. shores.” (See Tuesday’s briefs.)
Jamaica
Jamaica will ask King Charles to request legal advice on the issue of slavery reparations from the judicial committee of the privy council, reports the Guardian.
Ecuador
The capture of Ecuadorean crime boss, Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” this week, will likely boost public opinion of President Daniel Noboa’s security policies, but it will not turn the tide against drug trafficking and gang violence, reports InSight Crime. (See yesterday’s post.)
Argentina
An Argentine judge ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. The case has been mired in coverup efforts and corruption scandals since the attack. Until March this year, the country’s laws did not allow for suspects to be tried unless they were physically present. (AFP)
Argentine economic statistics can be confusing — to put it lightly. In Cenital Daniel Schteingart explains the apparent contradiction between the country’s falling poverty rate (7 points below 2023, before President Javier Milei took office) and falling salaries (6 percent lower than in 2023). Unfortunately, the positive developments are likely unsustainable, he concludes.
Identities
Mexican political theorist Tessy Schlosser writes in The Ideas Letter on how identity politics is not exhausted, but is also not a panacea. “We do not need another universal; we need a way of living together that does not require sameness. This is a humanism not of shared essence, but of shared difficulty. This understanding of political identity is not new, but I want to reclaim it for what we call identity politics. And I want to make the case for relations premised on identity as the base for friction not fusion. This is not a call to abandon identity politics. It is a call to let it breathe and loosen its borders.”