The United States asked El Salvador to terminate the emergency regime as soon as possible

The United States asked El Salvador on Wednesday to rescind the current emergency regime “as soon as the situation allows” of violence in the country, and urged it to respect the human rights of all Salvadorans, including those in detention.

Asked by the news agency EFE, a spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House reacted to the situation in El Salvador, which is celebrating its eleventh day under an emergency regime this Wednesday following an escalation of murders that claimed the lives of more than 80 people.

The spokesman assured that the United States is “concerned” about the “three-day peak” in homicides recorded in El Salvador between March 25 and 27, and that his thoughts “are with the Salvadoran people affected by violence.”

The Salvadoran Government has responded to this problem with massive arrests and total confinement for detained gang members, in addition to the imposition of an emergency regime that has generated criticism from organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI).

“We urge the Government of El Salvador to carefully consider how it implements the measures resulting from the current state of emergency, and to terminate this state of emergency as soon as the situation allows,” the aforementioned White House spokesman, who asked for anonymity, told EFE.

“We also call on security forces, including the police and prison officials, to observe and protect the human rights of all Salvadorans, including detainees,” the spokesperson added.

On Monday, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, warned the gangs that if homicides increase in the country they will take away food in prisons where, according to the Government, thousands of members of such structures are imprisoned.

Amnesty International has called on the Salvadoran Government to guarantee the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, including the right to personal integrity and not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The emergency regime approved at the end of March by the Legislative Assembly, with a large ruling majority, at the request of Bukele, is expected to last 30 days, that is, until the end of this month.

As a result of this measure, adopted without any study or discussion, several constitutional rights have been suspended, including that of defense during judicial proceedings and the inviolability of telecommunications for Salvadorans.

The Government has carried out mass arrests of alleged gang members in what it has called a “war against gangs”, as did its predecessors.

Since the beginning of the emergency regime, social organizations and the Salvadoran Ombudsman's office, Apolonio Tobar, have collected more than 100 complaints of violations of rights, mainly due to arbitrary arrests.

(With information from EFE)

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