Date: Sep 18, 2025
The Latin America Working Group, together with more than 80 organizations from Latin America, the United States, and Europe, signed a statement in support of the demands of those directly affected by the State of Exception in El Salvador, including the families of the Movement of Victims of the Regime (MOVIR). The letter calls on the international community to denounce the country’s human rights violations.
Since the implementation of the State of Exception in 2022, detainees have not had access to trials or preliminary hearings, with proceedings limited in most cases to initial hearings (or arraignments) that automatically impose pretrial detention. The majority of those arrested under the measure have already been held for over three years in pretrial detention. The continuation of this measure has been made possible through legal reforms and decrees such as Decree 803, approved in July 2023, which suspended all hearings related to State of Exception cases for two years, automatically extending pretrial detention and paving the way for mass trials.
Despite increasing political repression against organizations and human rights defenders in El Salvador, groups such as MOVIR and others continue their advocacy. Recently, MOVIR mobilized in front of the Legislative Assembly to demand that Decree 803 not be extended, as its expiration was scheduled for August 25. However, on August 15, the Legislative Assembly, controlled by the ruling Nuevas Ideas party, approved an extension of up to two more years.
In this context, LAWG and various organizations urged support for MOVIR’s demands. These include the immediate release of all those against whom no evidence exists and the individualized review of cases instead of resorting to mass trials.
Human rights, religious, legal, immigrant rights defense, and Salvadoran diaspora organizations in several countries, among other sectors, reaffirmed their commitment to defending human rights in El Salvador and stressed the need to strengthen international solidarity to support the legitimate demands of the families of those arbitrarily detained, disappeared, or killed at the hands of the state. The alert was issued following MOVIR’s report of a new incident of intimidation by the National Civil Police on Wednesday, September 3, when members were en route to deliver correspondence to the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office.
LAWG Executive Director Vicki Gass noted: “The illegal expulsion of Venezuelans by the Trump administration to the CECOT gulag in El Salvador this past March exposed to the world the grave human rights violations that have taken place under Bukele’s government since the State of Exception was declared three years ago. Systematic torture and persecution are state policies facilitated by the erosion of the rule of law, judicial independence, and government transparency. And with the Foreign Agents Law passed in June, civic space for human rights defenders, activists, and journalists is being slammed shut. LAWG stands in solidarity with MOVIR and other organizations seeking justice for their loved ones unjustly imprisoned and is committed to ensuring that the U.S. government ceases to be complicit in the Salvadoran people’s human rights violations through its support for the government.”
Read the full statement by clicking on the buttons:
