The persecution of communities defending their land and water— and particularly of leaders of organizations that represent them and attorneys who accompany them— continues to intensify in El Salvador. On June 23, Carlos Flores, representative of El Salvador’s Water Forum (Foro del Agua), denounced that he and other spokespersons for the Water Forum and other environmental groups like REVERDES and ECOS El Salvador as well as leaders of the El Bosque cooperative are experiencing repeated police and military harassment. Several have had to relocate from their homes due to fear of being arbitrarily arrested in relation to their activism.

In an interview, Flores explained that the arrest of UNIDEHC spokesperson Fidel Zavala on February 20, 2025, in relation to his accompaniment of the La Floresta community’s fight against eviction, “marked a before and after,” where members of organizations that accompany communities engaging in land and water defense are now being targeted for arrest specifically for their accompaniment work. Flores cited the May 12 arrest of El Bosque community leader José Ángel Pérez and the May 13 arrest of Water Forum attorney and REVERDES environmental activist Alejandro Henríquez following their participation in a peaceful vigil protesting the eviction of 300 families of the El Bosque agricultural cooperative as further cementing this reality.

For Flores and his colleagues, the surveillance and harassment has intensified in recent weeks, particularly after the initial hearing in José Ángel and Alejandro’s case on May 30. During the hearing, the Attorney General’s Office charged Henríquez and Perez with public disorder and aggressively resisting arrest. Despite an abundance of video evidence showing the peaceful nature of the May 12 vigil and the excessive use of force enacted by El Salvador’s civilian, military and riot police forces, the court ruled that the case against Perez and Henriquez could proceed, sentencing them to six months of pre-trial detention. 

Outside of the court, numerous organizations and individuals had mobilized in a show of support for the defendants. Flores explained that on arrival, police stopped buses transporting community members to the courthouse, temporarily confiscated their transit documents and threatened the drivers should they continue transporting people to such activities. The police also photographed the faces of people in attendance. According to Flores, such actions are intended to instill terror in communities so that they stop mobilizing in defense of their rights. After the hearing, police and military visited the homes of several attendees, returning repeatedly if they were not initially home.

Flores characterized the harassment as a “witch hunt.” He shared about being the subject of increased surveillance and police interrogation regarding his work in another community, San Bartolomé Perulapía, as well – a community vocal in their rejection of a construction permit for a private water well which threatens the already scarce water source of their municipality. Flores and Henriquez met with the San Bartolomé Perulapía community in response to a request for support from the Water Forum. Residents there recently informed him of police visiting them to ask what his’ role had been. Specifically, they asked if he had come there to incite them to protest against the government, raising alarms that the government intends to invent charges against him that could lead to his arrest.

Carlos Flores of Foro del Agua. Photo: El Foro del Agua's Facebook

During the interview, Flores also denounced many blatant irregularities in the legal proceedings against Alejandro and Don Jose Angel as evidence of political persecution. He pointed to the appeals court judge telling defense attorneys “not to worry” that the lower court had not reviewed any video evidence prior to sending them to six months of pre-trial detention, a decision which the appeals court upheld.  He also explained that in the El Bosque case, the state seeks to criminalize Henriquez simply for accompanying the community in exercising their constitutionally protected right to present a petition to a public official.

In earlier cases of political persecution of environmental activists, the Bukele government reached back into history for pretext to arrest community leaders, such as the case of the Santa Marta 5 water defenders, whom the Attorney General continues to persecute for alleged crimes dating back to El Salvador’s civil war. Now, the mask is off as the Attorney General’s Office ramps up the criminalization of protest itself and of community land defense in the face of mass eviction and environmental exploitation for corporate profit. International solidarity is urgent in raising the visibility and truth behind these cases of political persecution, as Nayib Bukele has frequently denied that his government persecutes his critics. On July 1, Amnesty International declared Alejandro and Don Ángel "prisoners of conscience", along with prominent human rights and anti-corruption attorney Ruth López. You can take action on some of these cases here!