Salvadoran Bishops Call for End to State of Exception

In a 28-page pastoral letter, titled “A Voice Cries Out From the Desert,” the bishops of El Salvador addressed their concerns to their government, including calling for an end to the state of exception – the emergency declaration that suspends the right to a fair trial.

The suspension of civil rights known as the state of exception was imposed in 2022 to combat gang activity. It provided the Bukele Administration with the authority to imprison over 80,000 suspected gang members in high security prisons without due process. The emergency measure has been renewed on a monthly basis for over three years now.

The bishops, in the clearest call to date, urged an end to the extraordinary measure:

“While the state of exception may have once been justified as a necessary measure to address violence, that time has passed. Continuing under such a regime is no longer warranted. It is time to restore full freedoms and allow the population to live without fear or pressure. People must be free to do good, follow the law, and contribute to society not because they are coerced, but because they freely choose to do so. Doing good out of fear is coercion; doing it under threat is repression.”

The letter acknowledges and commends the Salvadoran government’s successes in reducing violence in El Salvador but raises concerns about its methods. Firstly, the bishops note that a positive vision is needed for young people as an alternative to gang violence. The bishops call for initiatives that foster child and adolescent development, naming sports, the arts, and vocational schools as possible options. As they write, “Access to education and vocational training is essential to ensure that the tragic history of violence does not repeat itself.”

Secondly, the bishops raise concerns over the treatment of the incarcerated. They urge full and objective reviews of each prisoner’s case so that the innocent among them may be released.

Furthermore, the bishops object to El Salvador’s cooperation with the United States on immigration. “Our country cannot become complicit in the repressive immigration policies of powerful nations,” they write. “Migration is a human right.”

The bishops refer to the March transfer of 200 migrant prisoners, accused of gang ties by the Trump Administration without evidence, to El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT, in defiance of U.S. federal court orders. The move was part of a broader program of “mass deportation” by the Trump Administration.

The bishops’ conference goes on to remind the Salvadoran government why collaboration on repressive policies is unwise:

We must remember the profound teachings of Pope Francis and other pontiffs on this subject. Migration should always be a matter of free choice. But today, in many cases, it is not. People are driven to migrate by war, natural disasters, or the simple fact that they cannot live with dignity and prosperity in their homeland. As early as 2003, St. John Paul II declared that ‘creating concrete conditions of peace for migrants and refugees means committing seriously to defending, above all, the right not to emigrate — that is, the right to live in peace and dignity in one’s own country.’

For this reason, we affirm that migrants are not criminals or delinquents. They are human beings seeking better lives. They are our brothers and sisters.

We therefore call on the authorities not to offer our nation’s prisons as holding grounds for those targeted by anti-immigration policies abroad. Instead, we should adopt a humane and welcoming approach — one that embraces open borders and integrates migrants into the economy as valued members of the labor force.

After all, many Salvadorans are themselves migrants, and we would not wish to see our own compatriots imprisoned in foreign lands.

The bishops also speak out about arrests of human rights advocates in El Salvador: “Human rights defenders must never be persecuted for fulfilling their calling. If there are individuals in prison solely for their peaceful advocacy of human rights, their cases must be reviewed and they must be released without delay.”

One prominent prisoner is Ruth Eleonora López, a human rights lawyer and the head of the anti-corruption unit at Cristosal. López was arrested May 18, and will be held in jail for the six months leading up to her trial.

The bishops’ statement concludes, “May the Risen Lord enlighten and guide each of your decisions.”