No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeCentral AmericaEl SalvadorEl Salvador Parents Beg Bukele to Stop Sending Minors to Adult Prisons

El Salvador Parents Beg Bukele to Stop Sending Minors to Adult Prisons

Parents with children in juvenile detention in El Salvador are calling on gang-busting President Nayib Bukele to scrap a plan criticized by rights groups to send minors to adult prisons. Margarita Ramirez said she has been living a “nightmare” since her 16-year-old son Dustin was arrested in April 2024, after he was accused of belonging to a street gang.

“I feel like they’re taking away my son’s dreams of doing everything he wanted to do,” said Ramirez, 39.”How are the minors going to be with the adults?” asked the recently widowed homemaker. Her son is one of 11 minors from the community of La Nueva Cruzadilla, 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of the capital, who have been sentenced to five years’ detention followed by five years’ probation.

The minors were accused of painting gang-related graffiti on the walls of a school, though family members insist they are innocent. The families’ despair deepened in February when Congress, controlled by the ruling party, approved a reform promoted by Bukele to send minors to adult prisons.

“They’re all children. They cannot be held with adults, with criminals,” said Moises Campos, 44, whose 15-year-old son Brandon was among those detained. Authorities say minors will have their own cells, separate from adults. But the promise does not reassure parents, who have not been allowed to visit their children.

Families are also concerned about a lack of rehabilitation and reintegration programs in adult jails for convicted gang members. While Bukele is extremely popular in his country for reducing homicides, rights groups say that many innocent people are imprisoned without the right to defense.

More than 86,000 suspected gang members have been arrested, although several thousand were released after being found innocent. More than 3,000 children have been detained since March 2022, according to the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, which has called the legislative changes “a massive regression for children’s rights.”

Presidential commissioner for human rights Andres Guzman, however, told AFP that there were fewer than 600 detained minors. The United Nations has criticized the reform as a “significant setback,” while Zaira Navas, a lawyer with the human rights group Cristosal, warned it will push minors toward violence. “In a prison where there are no rehabilitation programs, they’re going to learn violent behavior,” she said.

Trending Now

Why I Choose Real Life in Costa Rica Over the AI Hype

When it comes to AI, call me OG. Old school. I sometimes wish I could go back to a time before it existed. Artificial...

Panama Farmer Receives Land Title After 60-Year Wait at Age 109

A 109-year-old Panamanian farmer has received the land title for the property where he lives and works—six decades after first requesting it from the...

Chiquita Executives Convicted in Colombia for Financing Death Squads

Colombian justice on Wednesday sentenced seven former executives of the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands to more than 11 years in prison and a...

Remittances to Central America Surge 20% Amid U.S. Deportation Fears

Family remittances in Central America grew by around 20% in the first half of 2025, according to official data—a rise that experts attribute to...

Keylor Navas Joins Pumas After Controversial Exit from Newell’s

Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas is officially the newest player for Pumas UNAM, but his move from Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys has been anything...

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly Vacation in Costa Rica with Baby

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly touched down in Costa Rica for a family getaway with their three-month-old daughter, Saga Blade Fox-Baker. Photographers caught...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica