Justin Ayala
How Human Rights failed in El Salvador: What to do about it?
How should human rights organizations assist Salvadoran society to create a sustainable future where Bukele’s positive contributions are maintained, and repression is minimized? In 2015 El Salvador was the most dangerous country in the world in terms of homicide rate. The country was overrun by gang violence, and before that, the country was under a 12 year civil war. El Salvador has hardly ever experience stability, so Salvadorans responded to this mass violence by electing Nayib Bukele in 2019 and again in 2024 when the constitution prohibits multiple terms. He has imposed an authoritarian regime to rid the country of gang violence with arbitrary detention and a censored civil society. His repressive regime has been universally applauded by other leaders in the region as an aspirational model. However, the apparent positive results in addition to his repressive regime places human rights organizations in an uncertain position because they need to help the country maintain some of his positive contributions and then fix the repression. Interestingly, the current strategy by Human Rights organizations isn’t serving El Salvador. Human rights organizations need to intentionally engage with local communities to build lasting institutions that transfer agency to Salvadorans.
WATCH HERE
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How should human rights organizations assist Salvadoran society to create a sustainable future where Bukele’s positive contributions are maintained, and repression is minimized? In 2015 El Salvador was the most dangerous country in the world in terms of homicide rate. The country was overrun by gang violence, and before that, the country was under a 12 year civil war. El Salvador has hardly ever experience stability, so Salvadorans responded to this mass violence by electing Nayib Bukele in 2019 and again in 2024 when the constitution prohibits multiple terms. He has imposed an authoritarian regime to rid the country of gang violence with arbitrary detention and a censored civil society. His repressive regime has been universally applauded by other leaders in the region as an aspirational model. However, the apparent positive results in addition to his repressive regime places human rights organizations in an uncertain position because they need to help the country maintain some of his positive contributions and then fix the repression. Interestingly, the current strategy by Human Rights organizations isn’t serving El Salvador. Human rights organizations need to intentionally engage with local communities to build lasting institutions that transfer agency to Salvadorans.
WATCH HERE
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