Several NGOs start a registry of disappeared persons in El Salvador as anti-gang crackdown continues

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Several nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday launched a registry of disappeared persons in El Salvador, a tool meant to help families with relatives who disappeared during the country’s extended state of emergency that was declared to battle street gangs.

Under the state of emergency, originally declared in 2022 and still in effect, the government of President Nayib Bukele has rounded up more than 81,000 suspected gang members in sweeps that rights groups say are often arbitrary and based on a person's appearance or where they live.

Authorities have had to release about 7,000 people because of a lack of evidence.

While the government is accused of committing mass human rights abuses in the crackdown, Bukele remains highly popular in El Salvador because homicide rates sharply dropped following the detentions. The Central American nation went from being one of the most dangerous countries in the world to having the lowest homicide rate in the region.

Bukele rode that popularity to reelection in February, despite the country's constitution prohibiting second terms for presidents.

Last month, a human rights organization said that at least 261 people have died in prisons in El Salvador during the 2 1/2-year-old crackdown on street gangs.

Among the eight NGOs supporting the registry is the Institute of Human Rights of the Catholic University of José Simeón Cañas. The organization said it hopes the registry will compile data to support the creation of policy and prevention programs, treatment and mitigation of social issues, and assist in the search for victims of forced disappearances.

Family members of the disappeared persons can fill out a registry online with their relative’s details, creating a unique record that will help in the search for the missing family members.

El Salvador has not had a single registry for disappeared persons that allows the standardization of data reported by the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Institute of Forensic Medicine and other government agencies.

This is an initial effort "to standardize the data and records of the cases," said Silvia Elizondo, spokesperson for the NGOs.

Data presented by the NGOs showed that between January and September 2023, the number of missing persons reported increased by 9.9%, compared to the same period in 2022. In their last report, the Attorney General's Office reported 366 crimes of persons deprived of their liberty between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024, without giving any details about the circumstances.

According to the most recent report from the Foundation of Law Enforcement Studies, a non-profit based in El Salvador, during the first three years of Bukele's administration - he first took power on June 1, 2019 - the group registered approximately 6,443 reports of disappeared persons. More than one-third of those people have not been found.

Moreover, the report also said that human rights organizations documented 327 reports of forced disappearances since March 27, 2022, when Bukele launched his crackdown on gangs.

Rights groups have expressed concerns about abuses inside El Salvador's prisons, and say that innocent people are being caught up in sweeps targeting the notorious violent street gangs.

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