Salvadoran union leader detained since 2022; groups urge UN rights chief to intervene

Eighty Salvadoran and international humanitarian organizations sent a letter demanding the immediate release of union leader Geovanni Antonio Aguirre López, who has been held without due process since his arrest on 8 May 2022 under El Salvador’s state of exception. The letter notes that two judicial orders for his freedom have not been carried out and that he faces a forthcoming mass trial.

Families of other detainees have also appealed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to visit the country and assess the “human consequences” of the exception regime, which has resulted in more than 92,480 arrests, 6,400 complaints of rights violations and over 530 deaths in custody since March 2022.