It’s a given that violent criminality is a scourge that penalizes the peoples of El Salvador and Honduras for many years. So much so that the demand to tackle this issue became unavoidable. The entire social, economic, and political tissue was at stake if nothing was done.
The government of El Salvador, supported by populist measures to tackle rampant criminality in the country, has been keeping the country under “State of Emergency” for two years. The “State of Emergency” has been one of the most used legal instruments by dictators, authoritarians, criminals, and all sorts of incompetent political leaders to override constitutional law and allow for the dismantlement of democracy.
In these two years, several reports from El Salvador have been published regarding legislation changes to systematically violate human rights and democracy in the country. Honduras has been following the same modus operandi.
Some years ago, faced with the State’s incapacity to fight endemic violent crime, many fled to literally save their lives and have a chance at a more normal life abroad. A poor life but a chance at life. The most sought destination was the United States.
Using the crime fight as a political vehicle to change legislation, without ever addressing the root cause of the criminality, the means (material and legislative), and the societal change needed, a perfect storm of State abuse and State crime crashed on the Salvadoran people. Now, on top of the organized gang crime, there was the arbitrary State crime (everyone remembers the woman who was sentenced to 30 years in 2022 for an obstetric emergency and the appalling violence and murder rate in Salvadoran prisons). Indeed, the arbitrary character of Salvadoran law does not even distinguish a person being an alleged organized crime member and a person convicted for a crime.
This added a new strength to the emigration flow from El Salvador. The influx of Salvadoran and Honduran immigrants of people fleeing criminals shifted to what the American administration called “caravans of immigrants.” Only this time, due to the new constitutional dismantlement going on in El Salvador and Honduras, along with those who were fleeing the criminals and endemic poverty, the criminals themselves were the ones who fled. As always, well organized. As always, exploiting, kidnapping, torturing, and killing the weak and the poor to make a profit.
It’s no surprise then to see the American administration engaging these countries to try and make the recent political campaign promises a reality. It’s desirable to have a proper immigration policy to be able to manage it. It’s also desirable to have Homeland Security together with law enforcement agencies to manage criminality. It’s also desirable to have the Justice Department trying and applying the penal code and to manage the prison system.
What’s not so good is that none of that is being done. Since President Trump’s inauguration, the American administration has been quite keen on resorting to the “State of Emergency” legal instrument. Again, this instrument in its mild form is used to override constitutional rights and due process.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an agreement on Monday, January 3, 2025, with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. In a move typical of a business transaction, the US Secretary of State stated that “(…) the country will continue accepting Salvadoran deportees who illegally entered the US.” Also “accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, and house them in his jails.” Rubio also said that on top of that, El Salvador “has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of US citizenship and legal residents.”
This deal was already confirmed by the Salvadoran president on social media: “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.” “The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
Leaving aside the lack of legal foundation for this kind of deal, the national and international laws being violated, and the unconstitutional character of these measures, the un-Christian worldview (from people who swear to be Christian), let’s pause for a moment and think at the level of mental derangement needed to, in 2025, sit together with other psychopaths and make deals where people are the goods, the merchandise being traded.
In the eyes of the new American administration, it seems everyone can be traded for profit or political gain: immigrants, criminals (whatever their nationality), people denounced by their neighbors without proof of any criminal activity, women, children, and the elderly.
Many in the United States have been alerting for the oligarchy and the authoritarian nature of this Administration. If we look closely, we need to admit the country is one big step ahead of an oligarchy already.
