Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/ElSalvador.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in El
Salvador. Some of these links may lead
to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to
verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: El Salvador U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/el-slavador/
[accessed 18 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT On May 6, in Zacatecoluca, La Paz Department, media reported on the
case of a man who died while in provisional detention under police custody.
Allegedly, the PNC told the family of the man, arrested on homicide and gang
membership charges connected to the 2019 killing of a soldier, that he had
died of COVID-19 and that he should be buried immediately and without opening
the casket. Media reported that the family did not believe the cause of death
and inspected the body at the grave, finding the man still handcuffed, with a
bloodied face and broken teeth. The family believed he died after being
tortured and took photographs of the body. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Overcrowding, at
one-third above capacity as of August, was a serious threat to prisoners’
health and welfare. The prisons system had a capacity for 27,037 inmates,
but, as of August 17, there were more than 36,000 inmates. For example, the
PDDH reported that in one prison, 1,486 inmates were held in facilities
designed for 280. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/el-salvador/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? In 2017,
authorities continued to pursue a harsh, militarized response to the
country’s criminal gangs. Police have been implicated in hundreds of
extrajudicial killings as part of the campaign. A report by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released in September 2017
found that since 2015, 1,415 people, 90 percent of whom were suspected of
being gang members, had been killed in “alleged confrontations” between
suspected gang members and security forces. The organization raised concerns
about the large discrepancy between the number of
suspected gang members killed, compared to the 238 security forces members
killed in such confrontations during the same time period. In September, a
judge acquitted eight police officers of murder charges related to the
so-called San Blas case, in which the defendants were suspected of summarily
executing eight people in a 2015 incident at a coffee farm. Rights activists
portrayed the acquittals as a reflection of impunity for the security forces. Prisons remain
extremely overcrowded, and conditions within can be lethal due to disease,
lack of adequate medical care, and the risk of attack by other inmates. Deportation
Upheld Of Salvadoran Ex-Official For Torture, Killings Suzanne Gamboa, NBC News, 11 March 2015 www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/former-el-salvador-defense-ministers-deportation-upheld-n321801 [accessed 27 March
2015] An immigration
appeals panel has upheld the deportation order of a former El Salvador
defense minister who oversaw the torture and killings of thousands of
civilians during that country's bloody civil war. The appeals panel
agreed that Vides Casanova participated in the tortures and killings of
civilians from 1979 to 1989 because he was aware of them during and after the
fact, he interfered with investigations of them, failed to prevent them and
did not hold perpetrators accountable. In its decision,
the appeals panel detailed some of the torture cases connected to Vides
Casanova. The 1980 kidnapping, rape and fatal shootings of four American nuns
and a church layperson by members of El Salvador's National Guard occurred
while Vides Casanova was its director. The immigration judge found he had
failed to investigate. Conclusions and recommendations
of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. A/55/44, paras.
152-174 (2000) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/elsalvador2000.html [accessed 27
February 2013] 4. Principal
subjects of concern 160. The country's
penal legislation does not adequately define the offence of torture in terms
consistent with article 1 of the Convention. The type of offence referred to
in the Penal Code does not cover all the possible objectives of the offence
according to the Convention. 161. There are no
rules governing torture victims' right to fair and adequate compensation, at
the State's expense, and no State policy providing for as full rehabilitation
as possible of the victims. 162. The maintenance
in the Code of Criminal Procedure of confessions made out of court is in
contradiction with the Constitution, which gives legal force only to
confessions made before a judicial authority. 163. There are no
legal provisions opposing expulsion, return or extradition when there are
substantial grounds for believing that the person concerned would be in
danger of being subjected to torture. 164. During the
period covered by the report, there have been numerous acts of torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as disproportionate or
unnecessary use of force by police and prison personnel, according to reports
by the Office of the Procurator for the Protection of Human Rights and other
reliable sources. 165. Cases of
extrajudicial executions, whose victims show signs of torture, though very
infrequent, would appear to reveal a persistence of the criminal practices
employed during the armed conflict superseded by the Peace Agreements. 5. Recommendations 166. The offence of
torture should be defined in terms complying with article 1 of the
Convention. 167. The right of
torture victims to fair and adequate compensation at the State's expense
should be regulated, with the introduction of programmes for as full as
possible physical and mental rehabilitation of the victims. 168. Recognition of
out-of-court confessions should be removed from the Code of Criminal
Procedure, on the ground that it contravenes the relevant constitutional
guarantee. 169. Legal
provisions should be introduced opposing expulsion, return or extradition in
circumstances referred to in article 3 of the Convention. 170. Human rights
education and promotion activities should be continued, with the introduction
of human rights training into formal education programmes intended for new
generations. 171. The State is
urged to adopt measures ensuring that any allegation of suspected torture is
promptly and impartially investigated and, if proved, suitably penalized. 172. The
declarations referred to in articles 21 and 22 of the Convention should be
made. 173. The second
report (first periodic report) should be submitted within the coming year, in
order to keep to the schedule provided for in article 19 of the Convention. 174. The Committee
hopes in due course to receive information and replies to the questions
raised during consideration of the report, as offered by the representatives
of El Salvador. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 IMPUNITY - Impunity for
past human rights violations continued to be a concern. In January, in
accordance with a 2010 ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
the President apologized on behalf of the state for the massacre of over 700
men, women and children in El Mozote and
surrounding hamlets in Morazán province. The victims had been tortured and
killed by the armed forces over a three-day period in 1981. In December, the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights set down its final decision on the
massacre, ordering the state to conduct investigations,
and to hold those responsible to account. The ruling also called on the state
to ensure the 1993 Amnesty Law was not an obstacle to the prosecution of war
criminals; to continue compiling a list of victims; to conduct exhumations;
and to ensure reparations for the relatives. In August,
survivors and relatives of victims marked 30 years of impunity for the 1982
El Calabozo massacre in which more than 200 women,
men and children were killed by the armed forces. In a public event in
November, representatives of the relatives and survivors handed in over 5,000
signatures urging the government to take action and respond to the demands of
victims and their relatives for truth, justice and reparation. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=el+salvador+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 31 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61727.htm [accessed 24 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61727.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices, but during the year the PDDH received 54 complaints
that PNC officers used excessive force or otherwise mistreated detainees. The
PDDH found PNC officers responsible in 35 cases. During the year the IG
received 44 petitions to investigate cases of alleged personal integrity
violations. There were no
developments regarding the investigation into the killing of Melvin Guadalupe
during July 2004 riots in San Salvador, during which the police reportedly
used excessive force. During the year the
IG received 187 complaints of police misconduct. There was no information
available at year's end on whether the PDDH referred cases to the attorney
general's office for prosecution. On July 2,
authorities arrested five PNC agents in Acajutla, Sonsonate jurisdiction on
rape charges, based on a PNC investigation finding that the agents forced
alien minors to have sex with them to avoid a deportation procedure. At
year's end the PNG/IG was conducting a disciplinary review, but criminal
charges against the defendants were dropped due to lack of evidence. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- El
Salvador", http://gvnet.com/torture/ElSalvador.htm, [accessed
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