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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 4 May 2022
Rights groups criticize El Salvador’s mass gang roundups

SAN SALVADOR, El Salva- The emergency decree
dor (AP) — Human rights came after a spate of
groups on Monday criti- homicides in late March,
cized the massive arrests of when gangs were blamed
suspected gang members for 62 killings in a single
in El Salvador.. weekend, a level of vio-
The roundups, begun in lence the country of 6.5
late March after a spike in million people has not seen
homicides, have resulted in years. Bukele has also
in the arrest of over 22,000 established a raft of other
presumed gang members. measures. Among other
But as of May 1, only 10,885 things, they lengthened
of them have been or- sentences, reduced the
dered held pending trial. age of criminal responsibil-
The government has de- ity to 12.
creed a state of emergen- El Salvador’s congress has
cy that extends to 15 days authorized prison sentenc-
the time that someone can es of 10 to 15 years for news
be held without charges. media that reproduce or
Rights groups have criti- disseminate messages from
cized the measures, saying the gangs, alarming press
arrests are often arbitrary, A soldier guards the perimeter of a crime scene in a small market, Sunday, March 27, 2022, in San freedom groups.
based on a person’s ap- Salvador, El Salvador. Associated Press Gang members held at
pearance or where they Salvadoran prisons have
live. Police have also re- access to a lawyer. yers and reviewed arrest re- ed two cases where peo- been put on reduced food
ported being forced to “A growing amount of evi- cords. “We have found evi- ple died in policy custody, rations, denied mattresses
meet arrest quotas. dence indicate that Sal- dence of arbitrary deten- and found press reports of and frog-marched around.
In late April, El Salvador’s vadoran authorities have tions of innocent people, three other cases. Bukele has unashamedly
congress voted to grant a committed serious human who have in some cases And the decree has almost filled his social media plat-
request by President Nayib rights violations since the been disappeared for short certainly added to danger- forms with photos of hand-
Bukele to extend the anti- emergency decree was periods of time, as well as ous overcrowding in Salva- cuffed and bloodied gang
gang emergency decree approved” on March 27, alarming cases of deaths doran prisons, which were members.
for another 30 days. according to a report by while in custody,” said Ta- already at 136% of capac- At the same time, he has
The original 30-day state Human Rights Watch and mara Taraciuk Broner, the ity in December. The gov- lashed out at human rights
of emergency restricts the the Cristosal Foundation. acting Americas director ernment has pledged to organizations and interna-
right to gather, to be in- The two groups interviewed for Human Rights Watch. build more prisons, but that tional agencies critical of
formed of rights and have 43 victims, relatives or law- The two groups document- will take time. some measures. q

Mexico relocates migrant camp;

Haitians appear at border

By MARÍA VERZA Haiti to a shelter in the city, to seek asylum.
Associated Press across the border from Mexico’s National Immi-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- McAllen, Texas. gration Institute said the
can authorities said Tues- The camp of migrants migrants were taken near
day they have relocated a mainly from Guatemala, midnight Monday to the
migrant camp that sprung El Salvador, Honduras and shelter, which it said will
up in a park in the border Haiti sprung up after U.S. of- have better hygiene and
city of Reynosa, moving ficials. citing the pandemic, food services.
about 2,000 people from invoked a a health rule that But on Monday, people in
Central American and denies migrants a chance another border city, Nuevo
Laredo, said hundreds of
migrants, mainly Haitians,
have streamed into the
city, which is across the
border from Laredo, Texas
The rush apparently started
after the U.S. began pro-
cessing some asylum seek-
ers there.
Bishop Enrique Sánchez
Martínez said migrants start-
ed streaming into Nuevo
Laredo in late April, though
the city isn’t usually popu-
lar among migrants, in part
Migrants sleep under a gazebo at a park in Reynosa, Mexico, because it is dominated by
March 27, 2021. the violent Northeast drug
Associated Press cartel. q