Human rights commission calls on El Salvador to protect 3 deported men it imprisoned

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on the government of El Salvador to protect three Salvadorans deported by the United States in a decision released Tuesday, saying they had been detained without the ability to communicate with their lawyers or relatives since their arrival.

The Salvadoran government said in the case that William Alexander Martínez Ruano, 21, and José Osmín Santos Robles, 41, were detained in the Santa Ana prison and that the third, Brandon Bladimir Sigarán Cruz, 22, who the government said was an active member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, had been detained since March in the country’s new gang prison.

It is a widespread problem for the nearly 90,000 people arrested under emergency powers granted to President Nayib Bukele in March 2022, to combat the country’s powerful street gangs.

Relatives and a lawyer filed habeas corpus petitions in El Salvador on behalf of the men, and the nongovernmental Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy requested protective measures from the human rights commission.

The commission, which is an arm of the Regional Organization of American States, said it decided to grant the request because of a “serious risk to their rights to life and personal well-being.” The commission grants such protections in cases intended to prevent irreparable harm.

El Salvador responded to the commission regarding the status of the men, but the commission said the government did not deny that the men were being held incommunicado despite a specific request to provide information on the possibility of visits to their relatives and lawyers. The country is supposed to follow the commission’s instructions and report, but El Salvador has given no indication that it is willing to comply.

The commission said it granted protective measures in September to two Salvadoran lawyers, Ruth López and Enrique Anaya, government critics, who were arrested and detained without contact.

Lawyer Jayme Magaña of the Wings for Freedom movement, who is not representing any of those arrested, said people detained in El Salvador under the current state of emergency generally have no contact with their relatives or lawyers. “This is something (the commission) has been saying since the start of the state of emergency,” which began in March 2022, he said.

El Salvador’s government told the commission it should avoid being used by people with criminal backgrounds.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration sent to prison in El Salvador more than 250 Venezuelan men accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang. In July, they were released to Venezuela in exchange for the release of 10 Americans detained by Venezuela.