The death toll in El Salvador’s prisons rises to 554 under the state of exception

San Salvador.- The number of people who have died in El Salvador’s prisons following their arrest during the implementation of a state of exception, in effect since March 2022 against gangs, has risen to at least 554, according to records from the non-governmental organization Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (SJH) shared this Monday.

The NGO confirmed the number of deaths and pointed out that these are “people who were captured and killed or left to die due to the denial of the right to health“.

Socorro Jurídico reiterated that “94% of these people did not have a gang member profile and died under the custody of the State and in total impunity“, “without having been convicted in court“.

The organization, which emerged within the framework of the state of exception to provide legal counsel to the relatives of detained persons, also stressed that the actual death toll could exceed one thousand, facing a systematic effort to conceal information in mass trials.

At the moment, the government of President Nayib Bukele has not commented on the matter, nor has it reacted to said situation.

The state of exception, questioned by activists and national and foreign human rights NGOs, suspends constitutional guarantees such as the right to a defense or the inviolability of communications, and has left more than 92,480 detainees whom the Bukele Administration accuses of belonging to or collaborating with gangs.

You can also read: Trump to receive Bukele following the endorsement of a third presidential term in El Salvador

This provision, renewed on 53 occasions, has become the Government’s only strategy against gangs, which also earned President Bukele his immediate reelection for a second term, despite the constitutional prohibition at the time, and which maintains high approval among Salvadorans.

Meanwhile, various humanitarian organizations have received more than 6,400 reports of human rights violations, mainly due to arbitrary detentions and torture.