The latest report from the Salvadoran organization Humanitarian Legal Aid (SJH) documents 470 deaths of people detained during the 45 months of the emergency regime promoted by Nayib Bukele. The investigation concludes that “a high percentage of people who entered the prison system healthy did not last even a month in prison and died; which indicates that they could have been murdered.”
The 32-page document reveals that 94% of those who died were not gang members. Among them are evangelical pastors, union members, taxi drivers and four minors, including a newborn. The figure triples the 153 deaths in state custody reported by the Cristosal organization in 2023. In both cases, relatives reported having identified bodies with signs of torture.
SJH collected testimonies from relatives and contrasted them with its own investigation over almost four years. Since the beginning of the emergency regime, human rights organizations have denounced arbitrary arrests, torture and homicides in prison. Both Cristosal and SJH left El Salvador in 2025 following the Government’s offensive against critics and opponents.
The extraordinary measure, initially conceived for 30 days, has lasted for 45 months, almost four of Bukele’s six years in office. In addition to persecuting gang members, it has served to imprison critical voices such as lawyer Ruth López, constitutionalist Enrique Anaya and activists detained for protesting in front of the presidential residence.
The report details that 31.8% of those who died died violently, while another similar number lost their lives due to lack of medical care for chronic diseases. In many cases, the causes of death were recorded as “overdetermined,” which, according to SJH, seeks to prevent them from being counted as homicides.
Of the 470 cases, 294 people died after being admitted to hospitals and 143 inside the cells. Some 75 inmates died before serving four months in prison. The organization estimates that the actual number of deaths could be as high as 1,300, with bodies buried in mass graves without notification to families.
Among the deceased are four evangelical pastors in their 50s, three union members from different sectors and women up to 74 years old. The report highlights the case of a newborn whose delivery was brought forward due to the torture suffered by her pregnant mother in prison, and that of a four-year-old girl who died of pneumonia after becoming infected in prison.
Izalco, the invisible prison
The majority of deaths (40.9%) were recorded in the Izalco medium-security prison, followed by the La Esperanza center, known as Mariona (18.9%). The famous CECOT, converted into a propaganda symbol of the Government and open to international media, barely concentrates the deaths. Access to Izalco, on the other hand, is prohibited for the local press.
Organizations such as Human Rights Watch have documented complaints of torture in Izalco, a prison that has become the epicenter of penitentiary repression, far from the media spotlight that the Executive directs towards the CECOT.
For more updates, visit our homepage: NewsTimesWire
