Anna-Cat Brigida

Thou­sands have been ar­rest­ed since the coun­try sus­pend­ed cer­tain civ­il lib­er­ties amid a crack­down on gangs.

Po­lice, mil­i­tary and ju­di­cial sys­tem face pres­sure to im­ple­ment mass ar­rest and in­car­cer­a­tion pol­i­cy, ex­perts say.

Rel­a­tives of peo­ple ar­rest­ed in gov­ern­ment’s crack­down on gangs say they have lit­tle to no in­for­ma­tion about loved ones.

Pres­i­dent Nay­ib Bukele says his gov’t is stamp­ing out gang vi­o­lence, but ex­perts doc­u­ment pat­tern of ar­bi­trary ar­rests.

As court clears way for Juan Or­lan­do Her­nan­dez to face charges in US, ex­perts say fight against cor­rup­tion con­tin­ues.

Af­ter spate of week­end mur­ders, ex­perts ques­tion whether gov­ern­ment’s ‘iron fist’ ap­proach will stem the vi­o­lence.

Ob­servers hope the coun­try’s in­com­ing pres­i­dent will make a real ef­fort to tack­le cor­rup­tion and so­cioe­co­nom­ic crises.

Ex­perts raise con­cern over po­ten­tial fraud in Sun­day’s vote, which could end con­ser­v­a­tive Na­tion­al Par­ty’s 12-year rule.

Dis­missal of top judges and at­tor­ney gen­er­al could do ir­repara­ble harm to democ­ra­cy, rights groups and lawyers warn.

Re­cent hear­ings re­veal new de­tails about bru­tal 1981 mas­sacre of civil­ians in El Sal­vador dur­ing coun­try’s civ­il war.