On the heels of Friday’s historic acquittal of five Santa Marta environmentalists, 19 former FMLN officials and government employees await a verdict in their own trial. The case, which went to trial on August 20, is yet the latest in a series of attacks by the Bukele government, characterized by smear campaigns and the use of the legal system, to discredit the leftist FMLN party and opposition leaders. A verdict in this case is expected on Friday, October 25.

Prior their August 16 release, former Minister of Justice and Public Security Mauricio Landaverde and former Inspector of Prisons Ramón Roque had served 32 months in pretrial detention on charges denounced as “politically motivated” by the Committee of Family Members of Politically Persecuted and Imprisoned Persons of El Salvador (COFAPPES).

The case is based on accusations of money laundering and embezzlement through funds managed by the “I Change” Association (ASOCAMBIO). ASOCAMBIO was created in July 2018 following a 2014 court order that tasked Landaverde’s predecessor with formalizing the management of prisoners’ commissary accounts, as well as providing basic services like clean water, medical care, and workshops. When he was appointed Minister of Justice in 2016, Landaverde took over the process of creating a body to manage the funds.

At a press conference in June 2019, Bukele and his Director of Prisons, Osiris Luna, accused Landaverde of embezzling $14 million through ASOCAMBIO. In September 2021, more than two years later, Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado, illegally appointed by a Bukele-controlled Legislative Assembly that May, brought charges against 19 government officials and employees connected to the association. They were charged with laundering $400,000, less than three percent of the original claim.

As with other examples of political persecution under Bukele, this case is overrun with irregularities and illegalities. The defendants were released on bail at their initial September 2021 hearing in which the judge asserted that the Attorney General’s case contained “serious investigative deficiencies”. The judge was later removed from her post and the decision was reversed on appeal.  Landaverde and Roque once again voluntarily surrendered to authorities, this time in December 2021.

Additional release orders issued in January 2022 were also appealed by the Attorney General’s Office and reversed. A third set of orders for their release, issued on December 11, 2023 upon reaching the legal limit of two years of pretrial detention, were ignored by the Director of Prisons. Landaverde and Roque were finally released on house arrest following their fourth set of release orders on August 12, 2024 in the week leading up to the trial.

Just days into the trial, a ten-day recess was ordered when it was revealed that 42 boxes of evidence, which had never been presented to the defense, were missing. Once the trial reconvened, witnesses presented by the prosecution asserted that Landaverde and other officials never had access to ASOCAMBIO funds. They also found no evidence of transfers from prison accounts to those of Landaverde, Roque, or the other defendants. Furthermore, the defense showed  that ASOCAMBIO was created in accordance with the 2014 court ruling that mandated the establishment of a body to manage the funds.

Despite the state’s accusations that the creation of ASOCAMBIO was illegal, the entity continues to operate under the direction of Osiris Luna, whose allegations were central in the charges brought against Mauricio Landaverde, Ramon Roque and their co-defendants. Well-documented claims of corruption and human rights violations have also been levied against Luna.

A 2021 criminal investigation found that Luna embezzled $1.6 million worth of government food donations during the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate National Civil Police investigation identified him as a potential drug trade operative with leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs in his inner circle. It also alleges that one of his employees manipulated database information of 25,000 inmates. A 2020 Revista Factum investigation uncovered documentation that he illegally redirected $8.5 million of ASOCAMBIO funds, and an Attorney General investigation documented $278,000 of embezzled funds he funneled through the payment of “ghost” employees.

Rampant Political Persecution under Bukele

Cases of political persecution have become common during Bukele’s time in power and disproportionately target the left. COFAPPES identifies 97 such cases. 92 of those are against leftists, progressives, and community leaders, while only five politically-motivated cases are against right-wing figures.

In one case involving FMLN officials from the Zacatecoluca municipality, lengthy prison sentences were overturned, pending a Supreme Court investigation into allegations of misconduct brought against the case’s judges. Despite orders for their release issued in December, three former officials remain in prison.

A separate case against government officials from the first FMLN presidency has lingered for over six years. Despite the trial’s conclusion in November 2023, a verdict has not been issued. It has been rescheduled six times, most recently on March 15 in a hearing that was suspended when prosecutors abruptly left the courtroom minutes before the verdict was to be read.

The trial of five anti-mining activists and FMLN combatants from the northern town of Santa Marta concluded with their acquittal on October 18. Their January 2023 arrests caused global outcry and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders made multiple calls for the case to be dismissed due to a total lack of evidence.

In late May, seven members of the Alliance for a Peaceful El Salvador, in addition to a grassroots journalist, were arrested in the leadup to Bukele’s unconstitutional second inauguration. Alliance coordinator Jose Santos Melara and Atilio Montalvo, both historic FMLN leaders, have faced medical neglect while in prison, representing a serious threat to their lives. In addition to his pre-existing hypertension and diabetes, Melara’s lawyer, Ivania Cruz, recently reported that her client has developed kidney disease while in custody.

As part of a broader attack on organized labor, union leaders have also faced political repression. On August 23, Manuel Mira, a member of the ANDES June 21 teachers union’s executive board was arrested, making him at least the 19th union leader jailed under the country’s State of Exception. Three others, including Francisco Aguirre, also a member of the Popular Resistance and Rebellion Bloc (BRP), remain in prison.

Following proceedings on September 23, Landaverde, a former FMLN combatant, spoke with the press. “They imprisoned me for close to three years. For nearly a full year, I was held illegally because my release had been ordered, but it was not carried out…Why did I stay and confront it all? Because I believe that we can rescue the Salvadoran judicial system.”