Across the country, chairs sit empty around dinner tables.
Husbands, brothers, sons, mostly, are missing.
Caught up in a government dragnet that picked them off the streets.
Or took them from their homes. Or ripped them off of buses or from their workplaces.
The news gushes over how safe the country of El Salvador is today.
But for the thousands of families who’s innocent loved ones were taken from them
And locked into high security prisons without a key…
This is not a paradise.
It’s a nightmare.
In March 2022, President Nayib Bukele ordered a state of exception and unleashed raids that have locked up more than 70,000 people around the country.
They are accused of being affiliated with gangs.
Gangs that wreaked havoc in the country
with one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America (or the world).
People say they couldn’t leave their homes without fear of violence.
But in Bukele’s gang crackdown
he also picked up the innocent.
Thousands. Tens of thousands of innocent people.
Police grabbed people with impunity.
Without asking for proof, or a warrant.
And in jail, they are languishing. Most incommunicado from their families.
Incommunicado from a lawyer.
Waiting for years.
And there are no charges. No court cases. No trials. No conviction.
They are just held, indefinitely.
Their crime: Being young. And male. And, in many cases, tattooed.
And this system has the stamp of approval from the United States,
which is now openly participating, by sending Venezuelans to be housed in El Salvador’s jails.
Also under the pretext of being gang members, even though many are not.
The rule of law is dead. Habeaus corpus, buried.
Buried in the name of the war on gangs.
Buried in the name of the United States.
But people are fighting.
Family members are marching.
On May 1, International Workers Day, the family members of the detained lead the way.
They carry signs of the loved ones who have been ripped from them. Husbands. Sons. Brothers. Breadwinners for their families, now languishing in prisons.
They carry signs and images, strangely reminiscent of the pictures of those detained, killed, and disappeared during the 1970s and ’80s… in another time and another war, funded and backed by the United States.
Those also kidnapped in the name of the United States.
But the Salvadorian relatives are not the only ones marching for their loved ones.
So are Venezuelans, standing up in Caracas and other cities against the illegal deportation of their compatriots to another country far away.
So are people in the United States.
But family members in El Salvador are leading the way.
They are marching. They are organizing. Demanding the freedom for their loved ones.
Demanding to be allowed to speak to them.
Demanding that there be justice.
Resisting, despite so much impunity.
Despite so much injustice.
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Thanks for listening. I’m your host, Michael Fox.
I was in El Salvador for the May 1 march a couple of years ago, and did some reporting on the situation in the country and the widespread dentition of innocent people. I’ll add links in the show notes for some of my stories for The Real News.
This is episode 26 of Stories of Resistance — a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, leave a review, or tell a friend. You can also check out exclusive pictures, follow my reporting, and support my work at my patreon, www.patreon.com/mfox.
Thanks for listening. See you next time.
In El Salvador, thousands of innocent people have been locked up in Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gangs. They have been held without due process for years. But family members are standing up. And on May 1 they march, carrying the pictures and the names of their innocent loved ones detained and held without rights, with the ever-increasing support of the United States.
This is episode 26 of Stories of Resistance — a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. You can also follow Michael’s reporting and support at patreon.com/mfox.
Written and produced by Michael Fox.
Below are some links to Michael Fox’s previous reporting on this issue with The Real News.
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.