Ruth Eleonora López has defended Venezuelan immigrants deported to El Salvador by US President Trump’s administration.
A distinguished human rights lawyer recognized 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 normal’s workplace, which in a web-based submit 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 crew has managed to search out out her whereabouts,” Cristosal mentioned in a press release, calling the refusal to reveal her location or permit entry to attorneys “a blatant violation of due course of”.
The group mentioned her arrest “raises critical issues in regards to the rising dangers confronted by human rights defenders in El Salvador”.
López has publicly criticised the federal government’s mass incarceration of alleged gang members, lots of whom haven’t been charged.
Cristosal, one of the crucial distinguished 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 below Trump’s administration.
Bukele, who has known as himself “the world’s coolest dictator” and has cultivated shut ties with Trump, mentioned earlier this yr that El Salvador is able to home US prisoners in a sprawling mega-prison opened final yr.
In March, Trump used hardly ever 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 docket on Friday barred the Trump administration from rapidly resuming swift deportations of Venezuelans below the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
In April, Cristosal reported that police had entered its places of work 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 in opposition to civil society organisations and impartial media.
López was recognised by the BBC as one of many world’s 100 most inspiring and influential ladies for her dedication to justice and the rule of legislation.
A joint assertion signed by greater than a dozen rights organisations, together with Amnesty Worldwide and Human Rights Watch, demanded her speedy 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 vital 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 impartial journalists,” it added.
