On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch released a report detailing its findings into the death of Alejandro Muyshondt. The former security advisor to both the government of El Salvador and President Nayib Bukele died this February while in custody following drug trafficking charges in August of last year. Muyshondt was supposedly subject to an enforced disappearance before his death was reported. The report found that of the over 2000 pages of Muyshondt’s medical records, medical staff had failed to provide evidence for diagnosis and that they had not conducted a transparent or proper death investigation. Additionally, the medical records were filled with holes and inconsistencies. Juanita Goebertus Estrada, the director of the Human Rights Watch in America, stated, “The expert analysis reveals deeply troubling flaws in the treatment of Alejandro Muyshondt and the later investigation into his death.” Estrada went on to clarify that this is consistent with a broader pattern of human rights violations that is being seen in El Salvador.
The team that created the report was “The Independent Forensic Expert Group,” which is made up of 42 forensic experts from 23 different nations. They are the global standard in the recognition of torture and other malpractice in medical settings. In their findings, they also outlined the circumstances that led to Muyshondt’s arrest. This included his accusations of a lawmaker who was loyal to the president of corruption, money laundering, and drug trafficking. He also made accusations surrounding the press secretary of Mr Bukele being corrupt. This led to his arrest and charges of falsifying documents being laid. From the start, he was held incommunicado, with his family being denied any information about his whereabouts and what his status was. This was made even more difficult by the fact that due to his job and the information he held, his cases were considered a national security risk. Estrada went on to state that the government not allowing for a full investigation to take place and not providing clear answers about Muyshondt’s fate should result in higher scrutiny of the human rights situation in El Salvador.
El Salvador has been criticized for its human rights abuses nearly constantly since the “war on gangs” started in 2022. This has seen many major changes to how El Salvador handles criminals, with mass arrests and incarceration becoming commonplace. With this massive uptake in arrests, there is an increased risk of wrongful imprisonment, and the massive prison complex need to incarcerate over 50,000 new inmates comes with its share of issues. According to Cristosal, a Central American Human Rights Group, over 250 detainees have died in prisons since 2022. this had the UN Human Rights Council investigate El Salvador in its upcoming Universal Periodic Review.
