Ruth Eleonora López has defended Venezuelan immigrants deported to El Salvador by US President Trump’s administration.
A outstanding human rights lawyer identified for defending immigrants deported amid United States President Donald Trump’s hardline anti-immigration insurance policies has been arrested in El Salvador.
Ruth Eleonora López, 47, a senior determine on the rights group Cristosal and a vocal critic of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally, was detained late on Sunday.
The arrest was confirmed by the nation’s lawyer basic’s workplace, which in an online post accused López of embezzling state funds throughout her time at El Salvador’s electoral court docket greater than a decade in the past.
“Neither her household nor her authorized staff has managed to search out out her whereabouts,” Cristosal mentioned in a press release, calling the refusal to reveal her location or enable entry to attorneys “a blatant violation of due course of”.
The group mentioned her arrest “raises critical considerations concerning the growing dangers confronted by human rights defenders in El Salvador”.
López has publicly criticised the federal government’s mass incarceration of alleged gang members, a lot of whom haven’t been charged.
Cristosal, one of the vital outstanding human rights teams in Latin America, has assisted Salvadoran households caught in Bukele’s safety insurance policies, in addition to greater than 250 Venezuelan immigrants who’ve been deported to El Salvador underneath Trump’s administration.
Bukele, who has known as himself “the world’s coolest dictator” and has cultivated shut ties with Trump, mentioned earlier this 12 months that El Salvador is ready to house US prisoners in a sprawling mega-prison opened final 12 months.
In March, Trump used not often invoked wartime powers to ship dozens of Venezuelans to El Salvador with out trial, alleging ties to the Tren de Aragua gang – a cost their households and attorneys deny.
The US Supreme Court on Friday barred the Trump administration from shortly resuming swift deportations of Venezuelans underneath the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
In April, Cristosal reported that police had entered its workplaces throughout a information convention to movie and {photograph} journalists and employees members – a part of what observers say is a broader marketing campaign of harassment and intimidation towards civil society organisations and unbiased media.
López was recognised by the BBC as one of many world’s 100 most inspiring and influential girls for her dedication to justice and the rule of legislation.
A joint assertion signed by greater than a dozen rights organisations, together with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, demanded her quick launch.
“El Salvador’s state of exception has not solely been used to deal with gang-related violence but additionally as a device to silence crucial voices,” the assertion mentioned.
“Authoritarianism has elevated in recent times as President Nayib Bukele has undermined establishments and the rule of legislation, and persecuted civil society organizations and unbiased journalists,” it added.
