North Carolina Rapper Jailed in El Salvador

Nelson Hernández, a North Carolina hip-hop artist who worked in the U.S. installing floors, was arrested in January while visiting El Salvador for his wedding.

  • Jun 12, 2023
  • 2:32 PM

Bukele Blocks IMF Report on El Salvador

The Bukele administration barred the International Monetary Fund from publishing its yearly report on the “economic situation and policy strategy” of El Salvador. It was striking, given that the country is looking to spur the negotiation of a debt program.

  • Apr 26, 2023
  • 5:53 PM

Honduras, El Salvador on Same Wavelength

The same day that Nayib Bukele staged a military siege of the gang bastion Soyapango, Xiomara Castro deployed police and military in 162 of Honduras’ most marginalized urban communities after decreeing a state of exception. The suspension of constitutional guarantees goes even further than in the Salvadoran model.

  • Dec 12, 2022
  • 1:18 PM

Thousands March in El Salvador as Bukele Plans to Run for Re-Election

On Thursday, El Salvador’s Independence Day, President Nayib Bukele announced that he will seek re-election when his five-year term ends in 2024, defying a constitutional ban on consecutive re-election. Earlier that day, as the government held a military parade, thousands marched in the capital against Bukele and his policies.

  • Sep 16, 2022
  • 12:50 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Secret Dossiers Prove Hundreds of Wrongful Detentions in El Salvador

Leaked court documents reveal that wrongful arrests in El Salvador are on the rise as the country courses its fifth month in a state of exception that suspended multiple constitutional rights.

  • Aug 10, 2022
  • 5:17 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: El Salvador Wants One Last Dance With IMF

Bukele’s government told Wall Street investors in March that it hasn’t totally ruled out a deal with the IMF to avoid default, offering backup plans. All scenarios involve massive credits from regional development banks and somehow squeezing more tax revenue.

  • Jul 18, 2022
  • 1:44 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Former Attorney for MS-13 on Supreme Court in El Salvador

A Supreme Court magistrate appointed by the ruling party was years ago the attorney of “Diablo de Hollywood,” the head of the Mara Salvatrucha. The detail, undisclosed when he was appointed last year, was revealed when the judge recused himself from ruling on the gang leader’s pending extradition to the United States.

  • May 27, 2022
  • 11:37 AM

El Salvador Extends Anti-Gang Emergency for Another Month

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s congress granted a request Wednesday by President Nayib Bukele for a second extension of the country’s anti-gang emergency decree.

  • May 26, 2022
  • 2:17 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Audios Reveal Collapse of Gang Negotiations in El Salvador

El Faro obtained audio files of conversations between a senior Bukele official and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), revealing that the covert negotiations with the gangs fell apart after MS-13 considered the surprise arrest of a group of its leaders a violation of the agreement they brokered in 2019 for a reduction in homicides.

  • May 18, 2022
  • 12:30 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Five In-Custody Deaths After Mass Arrests in El Salvador

Despite unprecedented peacetime policing operations that led to 27,000 arrests in two months, gangs continue to extort businesses as an expression of their territorial control. Human rights groups and the press have also documented at least five in-custody deaths during President Nayib Bukele’s state of exception.

  • May 10, 2022
  • 12:54 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Will El Salvador’s State of Exception Be the New Normal?

El Salvador, in Brief: The government not only extended the politically popular state of exception for another month on Sunday; it also seized the moment to temporarily exempt security spending from legal oversight. Despite widespread flak from human rights groups as evidence accumulates of police abuses and arbitrary detentions, Bukele’s party passed legislation to allow […]

  • Apr 26, 2022
  • 1:00 PM

Union: El Salvador Police Pressured to Meet Arrest Quotas

Some National Civilian Police commanders in El Salvador have been pressuring their officers to meet daily arrest quotas as part of the government’s crackdown on street gangs that have yielded more than 10,000 arrests, a police union said Tuesday.

  • Apr 13, 2022
  • 2:46 PM

Social Control in El Salvador

Latino Rebels Radio: April 7, 2022

  • Apr 7, 2022
  • 8:56 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Gag Order for Journalism on Gangs in El Salvador

On Tuesday, President Nayib Bukele ordered changes to the Penal Code that press advocates warn censor journalism about gangs and would impede news outlets from questioning the official narrative on issues such as security policy and the government’s secret negotiations with the gangs.

  • Apr 7, 2022
  • 1:28 PM

El Salvador Threatens Prison for Media Sharing Gang Messages

El Salvador’s Congress, pushing further in the government’s dramatic crackdown on gangs, has authorized prison sentences of 10 to 15 years for news media that reproduce or disseminate messages from the gangs, alarming press freedom groups.

  • Apr 6, 2022
  • 2:02 PM

El Salvador Leader Says He’ll Cut All Food for Gang Inmates

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for new police officers and soldiers, President Nayib Bukele said that if the gangs “unleash a wave of crimes, we are going to cut off food in the prisons.”

  • Apr 5, 2022
  • 4:44 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: No New Ideas After El Salvador Homicide Crisis

Amid an ongoing state of exception in El Salvador, the Bukele-controlled legislature held its second emergency session in five days to approve sweeping increases in criminal sentences for gang leaders and underage members alike.

  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 3:56 PM

El Salvador Forces Encircle Neighborhoods in Gang Crackdown

Security forces intensified operations against El Salvador’s street gangs Tuesday with mass arrests, the cordoning off of neighborhoods and house-by-house searches under a state of emergency that has raised concerns among some organizations it could open the door to human rights abuses.

  • Mar 30, 2022
  • 10:46 AM

El Salvador Declares State of Emergency Amid Killings

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s congress granted President Nayib Bukele’s request to declare a state of emergency early Sunday amid a wave of gang-related killings over the weekend.

  • Mar 28, 2022
  • 9:41 AM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Is El Salvador Protecting MS-13 From Extradition?

The U.S. suspects that a top MS-13 leader known as “Crook” was freed from prison despite an extradition request on transnational narco-terrorism charges. Salvadoran courts have for months refused to extradite senior MS-13 leaders to the U.S.

  • Mar 21, 2022
  • 10:47 AM

El Salvador Releases Woman Imprisoned After Miscarriage

El Salvador has released another woman imprisoned for aggravated homicide who after suffering an obstetric emergency was accused of aborting her pregnancy in a country where abortion under any circumstances is banned.

  • Feb 10, 2022
  • 1:03 PM

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