El Salvador: Congress Votes to Allow Mass Trials for Gang Members

Facts

• El Salvador’s congress passed legislation on Wednesday that will permit courts to try accused gang members in mass trials. This is an effort to expedite thousands of cases for those imprisoned under an operation against street gangs.¹
• The new bill could allow the state to try up to 900 people at the same time if they come from the same region or are accused of belonging to the same designated criminal organization. It also increases prison time for gang leaders from 45 years to 60.²
• Legislators from Salvadoran Pres. Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas party, which has a majority in Congress, said the policy will strengthen security and efficiency. The bill passed by 67 votes in favor and six against.³
• Johnny Wright Sol, a Nuestro Tiempo party politician, called the changes “a scheme designed to carry out the government’s plan to keep all those detained without a firm conviction," and said that mass convictions violate due process and individual rights.¹
• In a large crackdown, Bukele suspended constitutional rights and authorities have detained over 71K people accused of being affiliated with gangs — which is approximately 1% of the country’s population. According to the human rights group Cristosal, approximately as little as 30% of those detained have clear ties to organized crime.⁴
• At the end of May, a Salvadoran court sentenced former Pres. Mauricio Funes and his justice minister to more than a decade in prison for their ties to criminal groups and failure to comply with duties.⁵

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²Guardian, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴FOX News, and ⁵Reuters.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Americas Quarterly. In contrast with previous administrations, Bukele's crackdown on the country's notorious gangs has been highly successful — putting more than 60K dangerous criminals behind bars and dramatically slashing the murder rate that has plagued the nation for decades. Other nations in Latin America should take note of his wildly successful law and order policies, which have widespread approval with the voting public.
• Narrative B, as provided by El País. Bukele's all-out war on criminal organizations has taken a terrible toll on democracy and human rights. Thousands of innocent people have been arrested on loose grounds, as the rise in safety comes at the expense of grave human rights abuses. Bukele has consolidated his power to near-dictatorial levels — if he's let off the hook for his abuses, then any politician could be free from scrutiny.