Demand the release of grassroots leaders in El Salvador!
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.
Not coincidentally, they were arrested on the eve of Nayib Bukele’s June 1 inauguration for an unconstitutional second term in a constitute a flagrant attempt to intimidate and stifle the grassroots opposition. All nine have chronic health conditions and several were already facing critical health situations before being subjected to inhumane conditions in the Salvadoran prison system.
The Alianza and other popular social movement groups are calling on Salvadorans and solidarity activists around the world to demand their immediate release and to continue to protest against Bukele’s abuses of power. Join CISPES in urging the U.S. State Department and Members of Congress to use their platform to call for their immediate release. Send a message here.
Additional resources:
Read a statement by the family of Atilio Montalvo, urging his immediate release due to his fragile health.
Read CISPES' statement on the arrests
Translations of profiles created by the Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners of El Salvador (COFAPPES) about the detained human rights defenders:
"I am a CISPES supporter because continuing to fight for social justice and a more people-centered country means continuing the dream and sacrifice of thousands of my fellow Salvadorans who died for that vision.” - Padre Carlos, New York City
