| |  | | A series of events in El Salvador this week were connected by a recurring theme: prisons. On May 1, the independent media outlet El Faro released an interview with one of the country’s most important gang leaders in which he revealed that he had been secretly released from custody at the height of the country’s ongoing state of exception as part of his gang’s continued negotiations with President Nayib Bukele. In response, the Salvadoran government is reportedly preparing arrest warrants for several El Faro journalists in retaliation for revealing new details on Bukele’s power-sharing agreement with the gangs. “If carried out,” El Faro wrote in a statement released Monday, “the warrants are the first time in decades that prosecutors seek to press charges against individual journalists for their journalistic labors.” Also this week, Bukele’s Vice President Felix Ulloa said in an interview with the outlet El Grand Continent that Salvadoran jails are officially open for business, offering “international prison for hire” to any country who wanted to send their prisoners away. Ulloa cast the country’s offer of “prison lodging” as the provision of a service akin to “medical tourism for people who come for dental treatment.” The interview revealed that negotiations have already begun with the Ecuadorian government, and that free prison labor isa key part of the pitch. Meanwhile, Bukele employed similar populist tactics of marketing and coercion to target a new subject: bus drivers. After announcing via X on Sunday that all bus fares would be free for the week due to construction being carried out on major highways, Bukele ordered the arrest of five heads of bus companies for defying his order to provide free transit. Bukele accused the company heads of “sabotaging the country,” and, hours later, El Salvador’s federal police posted photos of the handcuffed men, stating they had been detained for "breach of duty, denial of assistance, and extortion." By Wednesday, the number of detained drivers had risen to twelve. El Salvador’s National Civil Police has published scores of photos on social media of officers boarding buses to ensure no fees were charged, as well as photos of drivers who were arrested for allegedly ignoring the order. The frenzy of attention on bus fares and surveillance of drivers is likely intended to divert attention away from El Faro’s bombshell reporting on Bukele’s back-door negotiations and alleged yearslong complicity with the country’s major gangs. El Faro has published a series of interviews with two gang leaders who shed a light on the extent to which Bukele’s rise to power was intricately tied to secret negotiations with the country’s gangs. El Faro’s reporting shows that the links between the Barrio 18 gang and Bukele began all the way back in 2014, when Bukele was a council member of small-town Nuevo Cuscatlán looking to run for mayor of San Salvador. During his campaign for mayor, a close Bukele ally warned gang members of impending police raids and delivered community development projects to the gang’s turf; in exchange, gang leaders cracked down on opposition activists and forced community members to vote for Bukele. Ties between Bukele and the country’s gangs, including MS-13, have long been documented by El Faro and other outlets and have caused tensions with the United States. Nevertheless, news that a gang leader convicted of murder was released at the height of the crackdown brings unwanted scrutiny on the Salvadoran government at a time when Bukele has enthusiastically sought favor with the Trump administration. The revelations are also potentially damaging for Trump. During his interview, Vice President Ulloa stated that the Salvadoran government does not see the provision of carceral services as an issue of international law because the “status of the detainees is assessed by the state that requests the service,” not by El Salvador. This assertion directly contradicts Trump administration claims that migrants housed in the country’s controversial Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) are under the jurisdiction of El Salvador. This issue of responsibility over detainees, known as “constructive custody,” was at the center of a federal trial held in Washington on Wednesday to litigate the legality of the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants to CECOT. The outcome of the federal trial over the fate of the CECOT detainees could have global consequences as more countries consider outsourcing incarceration to El Salvador. |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | |  | "If sex workers are forced to march to demand justice in the face of mafia executions, it's because the government is worse than the mafias." Sex workers protest the murder of their compañeras in Lima in February, 2024. From "Cuerpx en Vela: Travesti Performance Against the Necro-State," an open access piece written by Malú Machuca Rose from our most recent print issue. (Juan Zapata / Wayka) |
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VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION MEMBERS BROUGHT TO U.S. — On Tuesday, five prominent members of the Venezuelan opposition who had been sheltering in Argentina’s diplomatic compound in Caracas for 412 days arrived in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the arrival of the “hostages” as the product of a successful “rescue mission,” a claim the Venezuelan government denies, saying instead that their release was the product of negotiations. All five opposition members—Omar González, Magalí Meda, Pedro Urruchurtu, Claudia Macero, and Humberto Villalobos—were initially granted asylum at the Argentine diplomatic compound in March 2024 after Venezuela’s Attorney General announced warrants for their arrest. From the compound, the individuals helped mobilize turnout for opposition leader Edmundo González, who many believe won the country’s presidential elections. After current President Nicolás Maduro’s rushed declaration of victory, which drew skepticism even from the region’s progressive governments, the situation for the group quickly deteriorated. The government cut diplomatic ties with countries that refused to recognize Maduro’s victory, including Argentina, and ordered their diplomats to leave. Though the Brazilian government assumed responsibility for the asylum seekers, Venezuelan police allegedly cut off water and electricity to the building, continued to surround the compound, and refused to allow for safe passage. -
BRAZIL REJECTS REQUEST TO NAME GANGS AS TERRORISTS — During meetings with the Trump administration on Tuesday, representatives of the Brazilian government rejected the U.S. government’s request that the country classify two of its largest gangs as terrorist organizations. According to a U.S. official interviewed by The Guardian, the Trump administration hoped that by labelling the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) gangs as “terrorists,” they could better target supply lines, apply sanctions, and crackdown on irregular migration. The Trump administration has tied its aggressive deportation policies to the alleged presence of Latin American gang members in U.S. cities, an argument they made in their meeting with Brazilian officials. Nevertheless, even if FBI intelligence that the two gangs have cells in 12 U.S. states is true, Mario Sarrubo, Brazil’s National Secretary of Public Security, disagreed with the approach, telling reporters on Wednesday that the groups were “criminal organizations that have infiltrated society,” not “terrorist organizations.” |
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GRISLY MURDER OF PERUVIAN MINERS — On Monday, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte suspended gold mining and declared a curfew in the northern Pataz region after the discovery of the bodies of 13 mine workers. The miners, aged 22 to 40, were working as security agents for a subcontractor of one of Peru’s largest gold producers when they were kidnapped and held captive for more than a week before being executed. The violence against the miners was but the latest episode in a bloody battle for control over the country’s gold mining operations. Experts fear that the murder of these types of workers may be much more common than previously documented. Known as “chalecos,” the workers who were killed were tasked with combating criminal organizations who frequently seek to launch illegal gold mining operations of their own. Given no benefits, labor rights, or formal contracts, these workers on the front line of the global gold trade die defending wealthy multinational corporations who pay them a mere pittance. They are also often killed by criminal organizations with deep ties to the police—two police officers are accused of being implicated in the violence. The price of gold has increased exponentially in recent years, as has the involvement of criminal organizations in its extraction. -
MAYOR OF MEXICAN TOWN ARRESTED — José Murguía Santiago, the mayor of Teuchitlán in the Mexican state of Jalisco, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of colluding with the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG). The cartel is responsible for running a nearby training camp where human remains were unearthed in March. As detailed by Joshua Collins for Pirate Wire Services, prosecutors accused the mayor of being on the CJNG payroll and colluding with the cartel in the operation of Izaguirre ranch, the site identified by civilian search collectives, or “buscadoras,” as a mass grave and “extermination camp.” According to Collins, the episode “illustrates the deep and widespread collusion between politicians, security forces, and organized crime in the country.” The investigation into the training camp was recently taken over by Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz, who will continue to look into instances of possible collusion between the CJNG and local officials. Tensions have risen in recent weeks between the buscadoras and the federal government, who have contested the searchers’ claims that the site operated as an extermination camp. -
ATTN: SUMMER OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG JOURNALISTS AND ORGANIZERS — Kopkind, the magical summer retreat/seminar in Southern Vermont for media makers and activists is calling for participants for its political "camp." A living memorial to the great radical journalist Andrew Kopkind, the camp seeks journalists and organizers to participate in our seminar/retreat from August 2 through 10. Travel, lodging, and food expenses are covered. The deadline to apply is Monday, June 9. Letters should be sent to JoAnn Wypijewski, program director and board chair of Kopkind, at jwyp2000@gmail.com. |
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| | | North American Congress on Latin America
53 Washington Sq South, Fl. 4W | New York, New York 10012
(212) 992-6965 | info@nacla.org |
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