Photo: CISPES

Despite heavy rains, tens of thousands of Salvadorans took to the streets on Saturday, June 29 for the country’s Pride March in a powerful display of resistance to Nayib Bukele’s attacks against the LGBTI+ community and the country’s democratic institutions.

Equipo Maiz cartoon showing Bukele surfing a wave that is flooding a community with people sheltered on the roof of their house

Between June 16 and June 21, El Salvador, along with the rest of Central America, faced historically heavy rains as a result of a Central American gyre storm system. In El Salvador, the storm caused rivers to overflow as well as landslides, burying homes, destroying roads, and leaving a death toll of 19 in its wake. Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity in Central America as a result of climate change.

Representatives from Socorro Juridico Humanitario and CISPES sit at a table during a press conference

On June 7, a delegation from Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (Humanitarian Legal Aid), which represents and advocates for the tens of thousands of innocent people currently imprisoned under El Salvador’s State of Exception, held a press conference in Washington, D.C. to close out their visit to the U.S. While in Washington, DC and New York, attorneys and advocates from the legal aid group, accompanied by representatives of the Center for Exchange and Solidarity (CIS) met with U.S.

On May 30 and May 31, 2024, police in El Salvador arrested nine leaders of the prominent opposition group Alianza Nacional El Salvador en Paz (National Alliance for a Peaceful El Salvador). Among them were two historic leaders of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), José Santos Melara and Atilio Montalvo, one of the signers of the 1992 Peace Accords.

Photo of demonstrators holding signs and banners in front of the Salvadoran Embassy on June 1

Marked by displays of military might and religious zeal, Nayib Bukele was sworn in to a second consecutive term as El Salvador’s president on June 1, 2024, an unconstitutional act that the country has not seen since the 1930s military dictatorship of Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez. To social movement groups in El Salvador, June 1 marks the beginning of “a new stage of struggle.” 

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Recent Posts

Photo: CISPES

Massive Pride March Confronts Government Crackdown on Dissent

Equipo Maiz cartoon showing Bukele surfing a wave that is flooding a community with people sheltered on the roof of their house

"Disasters are not natural": Social movements speak out against government neglect during recent storms

Representatives from Socorro Juridico Humanitario and CISPES sit at a table during a press conference

During U.S. visit, Salvadoran human rights defenders denounce State of Exception abuses