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Agence France-Presse

Police in El Salvador arrested a prominent human rights lawyer and critic of President Nayib Bukele who helps imprisoned Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States, prompting appeals on Monday for her release.
A coalition of rights groups including Amnesty International said the arrest of Ruth Eleonora Lopez reflected a trend of growing authoritarianism under Bukele, an ally of US President Donald Trump.
The 47-year-old was detained late Sunday, accused of embezzling state funds when she worked for an electoral court a decade ago, the public prosecutor’s office said.
“Neither her family nor her legal team has managed to find out her whereabouts,” Cristosal, the rights group she worked for, said in a statement.

It called the authorities’ refusal to disclose Lopez’s location or grant her lawyers access “a blatant violation of due process”.
Her arrest “raises serious concerns about the increasing risks faced by human rights defenders in El Salvador”, it added.
Lopez runs Cristosal’s corruption and justice division and has criticised Bukele’s anti-crime policy, which has seen thousands of alleged gangsters arrested.
Bukele, who is popular among Salvadoreans due to his crackdown on street gangs, has called himself “the world’s coolest dictator” and is a darling of Trump.
Lopez was included in a list of 100 inspiring and influential women around the world last year by the BBC, which praised her for being “passionate about law and justice”.
A statement signed by more than a dozen human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Lopez’s arrest and demanded her release.

“El Salvador’s state of exception has not only been used to address gang-related violence but also as a tool to silence critical voices,” it said.
“Authoritarianism has increased in recent years as President Nayib Bukele has undermined institutions and the rule of law, and persecuted civil society organisations and independent journalists,” it said.
Cristosal helps families of Salvadoreans caught up in Bukele’s crackdown on gangs as well as more than 250 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration, which paid El Salvador to imprison them.
Trump invoked rarely used wartime laws to fly the Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador in March without any court hearings, alleging they belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, a charge that their families and lawyers deny.
Last week, a law firm hired by Caracas to help the Venezuelans alleged that the migrants were victims of physical and emotional torture.
Cristosal said in late April that police officers had entered its headquarters during a press conference to film and photograph the premises, as well as members of the media and vehicles belonging to staff.
It said the incident was part of “the current context of authoritarianism and the closure of democratic spaces in El Salvador”.
Bukele’s human rights commissioner Andres Guzman, who has defended the leader against allegations of abuses during his war on gangs, told Agence France-Presse on Monday that he had resigned.
The Colombian lawyer did not reveal why he quit, but said he had been a “privileged witness to a historic transformation” of the country from its previous state of “chaos and despair”.


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El Salvador

El Salvador arrests human rights lawyer helping deported migrants

Ruth Eleonora Lopez was detained on Sunday. Photo: Attorney General of El Salvador via Reuters

US President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on April 14. Photo: AP

US military personnel escort an alleged gang member who was deported by the US along with others, to be imprisoned in El Salvador. File photo: El Salvador presidency via Reuters

2-year-old girl reunites with mother in Venezuela after US deportation

Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores (left) watches as two-year-old Maikelys Espinoza is held by her mother Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Wednesday. Photo: Miraflores press office via AP

President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro holds a placard featuring Maikelys Espinoza’s image during a demonstrationin Caracas on May 1. Photo: EPA-EFE

US judge bars Trump’s use of wartime law to deport Venezuelans

Inmates at the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) prison, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

Deportees from the US detained in El Salvador. Photo: El Salvador’s Presidency via TNS

El Salvadore’s Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro for Venezuelan deportees

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, at the White House in Washington on April 14. Photo: EPA-EFE

Inmates are seen in a cell at El Salvador’s Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) earlier this month. Photo: AFP

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, deported from US, says he’s been moved from El Salvador mega-prison

US Senator Chris Van Hollen (right) meets Kilmar Abrego Garcia at a hotel in San Salvador on Thursday. Photo: X/nayibbukele via AFP

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, during a press conference at Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Van Hollen says a Salvadoran government official placed other beverages on the table with salt or sugar on the rim, to make it look like they were drinking margaritas. Photo: Chris Van Hollen via X

Signs in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia are displayed during a press conference held by US Senator Chris Van Hollen in Sterling, Virginia, on Friday after he returned from a trip to El Salvador. Photo: Reuters

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Rights groups said the arrest reflected a trend of growing authoritarianism under President Bukele, a Trump ally


Rights groups said the arrest reflected a trend of growing authoritarianism under President Bukele, a Trump ally.
