In recent years, human rights organisations in El Salvador have been adapting creatively to what Human Rights Watch describes as a hostile environment for human rights defenders. The recent troubles began in March 2022, when gangs killed 87 people, seemingly at random, over a single weekend. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele then responded with a crackdown that essentially dismantled the gangs that had ruled the country for decades. However, this new security has come at a steep price.
Within the last two years, the government, which has ruled under a state of emergency since 2022, has arrested around 1% of its population. The arrests include gang members, but also innocent people. To make matters worse, a recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights established that prisons are now overcrowded by at least 130%, inmates lack access to health care, and when detainees die in custody, families remain uninformed.
The Wrongful Imprisonment of Men from Espiritu Santo
Many human rights organisations have adapted their work to respond to the increasing number of human rights violations occurring in the country. For example, the Center for International Solidarity (CIS), which has been working in El Salvador for over 30 years, has expanded its economic development work to become a very public advocate for people who have been wrongly imprisoned.
Recently, CIS has been working hard to release 22 men from the island of Espiritu Santo, a small fishing community. The reasoning for the arrests remains a mystery, particularly as the island is one of the few communities in El Salvador that has managed to keep gangs away. By working with a defence lawyer for months, launching a very intense social media campaign, and engaging journalists to cover the case, CIS has so far been successful in getting some of the 22 men released on bail.
A crucial part of the success was CIS’ efforts to help the families of the men arrested gather evidence to support their case. This was an important part of the process because when you are arrested, under El Salvador’s criminal law, if you are unlikely to obstruct the investigation against you or flee the country, a judge must offer you an alternative to pretrial detention. You can show this by proving to the judge that you have strong community ties, such as a house, a job, or a family. Since you are detained before your first hearing, you must rely on friends or relatives to gather all the relevant evidence.
Transforming Real-life Experiences into a Tool to Navigate the Legal Landscape
Through their work with the community of Espiritu Santo, CIS learned that speaking about their loved ones as part of a judicial process was hard for many families. Leslie Schuld, Executive Director of CIS, therefore wondered if a storytelling workshop could help the families speak more openly about their loved ones to support their bail applications. Leslie called me in October 2024 to help with this idea.
I started by going through the strongest evidence packages from the island and noticed that the best applications seemed to include specific details on the detainees’ lives, their arrests, and personal appeals based on their character, such as showing that they were good parents or partners. For example, Perla*, 44 years old, said this of her husband:
“Mr. MANUEL ALEJANDRO GOMEZ CERNA* while he was free, was responsible for picking up their youngest daughter from school…
They met on the Espíritu Santo Island, in the municipality of Puerto El Triunfo, department of Usulután, and have lived their entire lives on this island due to its tranquillity and because the island is not affected by gangs. She affirms that Mr. MANUEL ALEJANDRO GOMEZ CERNA is a hardworking man, very responsible at home, humble, and of Christian roots”.
To encourage answers that are more detailed, I suggested creating a standardised form. I also added a special section in the form for how the person was arrested, which was crucial because in cases like the ones from the island, the police did not have arrest warrants for any of the 22 men. Later, the police would accuse the men, without proof, of belonging to illicit crime networks. We hoped judges might be more sympathetic to cases of such blatant arbitrariness.
As checklists have been shown to reduce errors in many domains, the new form also had a checklist of documents friends or relatives needed to gather before the first court hearing. If you are arrested, the documents your loved ones must gather include, among others, a very detailed letter from your employer, stating how many hours you work, how much you get paid, and whether they will hire you if you get released. Or a statement from neighbours that can speak to your work in the ‘informal economy’. For instance, a neighbour of Mr. Gomez Cerna* said this of his work:
“MANUEL ALEJANDRO GOMEZ CERNA* is engaged in artisanal fishing and works as a construction assistant. He also works as a shoemaker, providing quality work at reasonable prices. From his shoemaking work, he earns a daily income of approximately SIX DOLLARS AND THIRTY-FIVE CENTS, which he contributes to the family's needs”.
Storytelling as Resistance
Then came the hardest part. We needed a way to prompt people to give vivid and specific examples that showed their loved ones being good citizens. I know from growing up in rural Honduras that speaking highly about yourself or your family can be frowned upon in Central America. But, if we were to create compelling applications, it had to be done.
I suggested having a section in the workshop on storytelling, why it matters, how it moves us, and how it can speak of our values more convincingly than just listing them, as well as a section on a basic story structure that participants could practice in small groups. For example, one of my prompts asked participants to think of a time when they saw their loved ones put others’ needs above their own, to describe the situation, what they did, and the effect on their family or community.
Leslie delivered the workshop in November 2024. It was well received by the participants who ended up sharing great stories about their loved ones in what became a sort of public celebration. CIS staff transcribed the key details from these stories and shared them with the defence lawyer, who will turn them into documents that can be presented to a judge. Whilst being released on bail, does not necessarily lead to acquittal afterwards, it means that the accused won’t have to suffer in the terrible prison conditions and as a consequence are also likely to be better prepared for the trial itself. We hope to continue this important work by hosting more storytelling workshops in the future.
Afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 'onion tale' in The Brothers Karamazov. In the story, a woman is about to be sent to eternal damnation unless she can think of a good deed that she has done. She remembers the time she gave an onion to someone in need. If I got arrested arbitrarily, what good deed would I call upon? And who of my loved ones might be ready to answer it? As the CIS experience shows, the stories we tell matter.
*Names have been changed for personal protection
The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, the International Inequalities Institute, the London School of Economics and Political Science, or the United States Institute for Peace.
Dany Diaz Mejia
Country Representative for Honduras, United States Institute for Peace
Dany Diaz Mejia is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and an international development practitioner and writer who has consulted for organisations such as the American Red Cross and the United States Institute for Peace. He has been recognised by INCAE, one of the leading business schools in Latin America, as one of 30 emerging civil society leaders of Central America.
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