President Nayib Bukele is holding dozens of government critics as “political prisoners”, something that had not happened in El Salvador since the civil war ended more than three decades ago, the humanitarian organization Cristosal said Thursday. Cristosal says at least 86 people are currently detained for political reasons, including anti-corruption lawyer Ruth López, who leads the organization’s anti-corruption unit. Cristosal presented its new report on what it calls “political persecution” in El Salvador at an event in Guatemala.
“For the first time after the 1992 peace accords and the armed conflict, we can say there are political prisoners in El Salvador,” René Valiente, Cristosal’s research director, told a news conference. According to the organization, most of the detainees are human rights defenders critical of Bukele’s anti-gang crackdown, along with journalists, justice system officials, union leaders, and environmental activists.
Bukele, who has said he does not care if he is called a “dictator,” has governed for years under a state of emergency that suspends key constitutional protections. Official figures show violence has fallen to historic lows. Under the emergency regime, about 91,000 people have been arrested without judicial warrants, accused of being gang members or collaborators.
Cristosal, however, argues that thousands of innocent people have been swept up in mass arrests and that serious human rights violations have occurred. The group moved its operations from El Salvador to Guatemala in July, saying it was being targeted by Bukele’s government.
“Behind the so-called Bukele model is a regime like so many others: a dictatorship that kills, that tortures, that steals, and that persecutes,” Cristosal director Noah Bullock said. The Salvadoran government has not yet responded publicly to the report.
During a recent trip to Spain, Vice President Félix Ulloa told journalists that “97% of Salvadorans want” the state of emergency to continue because they feel safer, and he denied that people are jailed for expressing opinions.
Fear of speaking out
Cristosal’s report says documented cases of “political persecution” total at least 245, including those currently detained, but it warns the number could be “much higher.” The organization claims persecution has become an entrenched tool of authoritarian control. It said seven people have already been convicted in cases linked to political targeting.
Cristosal alleges that a strategy of “criminalization” has intensified, particularly since 2021, when Bukele’s allies took control of key justice institutions. The group says harassment includes threats, surveillance, public stigmatization, pressure tactics, non-criminal legal actions, and the “systematic use of pretrial detention as a form of early punishment.”
The report compares these patterns to Nicaragua and Venezuela, where hundreds of dissidents have been imprisoned for political reasons. Cristosal highlights several cases, including López, whom Amnesty International has described as a “prisoner of conscience.” She was arrested on May 18, 2025, and prosecutors aligned with the government accused her of illicit enrichment.
On Thursday, Amnesty International also expressed concern about Salvadoran activist Fidel Zavala, detained on Feb. 25, 2025, while advising a community facing eviction in a land dispute. Amnesty says the case shows the “criminalization” of human rights work and the abuse of pretrial detention.
Another prominent detainee cited in the report is constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya, a vocal Bukele critic, who was arrested in June on money laundering allegations. “El Salvador lives in a permanent state of fear. People are afraid to raise their voice, to defend others,” Valiente said.
Cristosal argues that the return of political prisoners represents a major setback for the country, noting that such cases had not been seen since the 1980–1992 civil war.
