Podcast: Bukele Dismisses Findings of Crimes against Humanity

This is the transcript of episode 65 of the weekly El Faro English podcast, Central America in Minutes.

GRESSIER, HOST: In recent days, the growing record of crimes against humanity in Nayib Bukele’s prisons has been on full display: from the United Nations to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

This is Santiago Cantón, Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists, speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, at a side event of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

CANTÓN: The report we present today represents the human rights situation in El Salvador. The central conclusion of the report is very clear.

There are reasonable grounds to believe that serious widespread and systematic violations are being committed that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Crimes against humanity in El Salvador

GRESSIER: On March 5, Troy Edgar, tapped by U.S. President Donald Trump as ambassador to El Salvador, had his Senate confirmation hearing. Edgar is a former top official at the Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem.

Last year, DHS worked closely with El Salvador on deportations, removing hundreds of Venezuelans and Salvadorans to Bukele’s signature megaprison, CECOT. The prison seen around the world.

At the hearing, Democrat Chris Coons asked about these removals: if Edgar knew about the Convention Against Torture, and about reports of human rights violations in El Salvador in general.

COONS: Are you aware of those allegations against the Bukele…

EDGAR: I'm aware of the allegations that I read, but I would just say that they're allegations, right?...

GRESSIER: In October, we ran a video feature: “From the Bowels of Bukele’s Prisons: Survivors Recount Death, Torture, and Starvation.” It included over two-dozen testimonies.

EDUVAY: I remember how my legs, my arms, and my whole body couldn’t bear it. We all felt the same. Some cried, others screamed: “Aaayyy, I can't take it.”

ALBA: You have to eat that food because, if you don't eat it, we're going to take you to the punishment cell, and there you will spend five days without eating, without seeing sunlight, drinking water, nothing.

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GRESSIER: And this week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights met in Guatemala City for a hearing on El Salvador.

The International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations testified.

They’re an independent team of jurists and specialists in international law created in 2024, with the support of civil society organizations. Their goal is to examine allegations arising under the state of exception in El Salvador.

The Group of Experts interviewed victims of the state of exception and reviewed official documents from the Salvadoran government, public statements by senior officials, U.N. and press reports, and studies by civil society organizations.

They found evidence of forced disappearance, arbitrary arrests, deaths in state custody, detentions of minors, and cases of sexual violence in police stations and prisons.

The investigation reports 540 disappearances, at least 403 deaths in custody, and thousands of minors detained. For the Group of Experts, these facts constitute crimes against humanity.

And this comes just one week after the exiled Salvadoran human rights organization Cristosal reported a sprawling web of over two hundred cases of political persecution in El Salvador.

The Salvadoran government responded as it has many times before.

“It’s fun to watch all the NGOs, think tanks, media, and journalists on Soros’s payroll attacking in unison and in an obviously coordinated way,” Bukele wrote on X.

He added: “I’d be worried if it wasn’t that way. That means we’re on the right track. Thank God.”

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El Faro asked Salvadoran attorney Daniel Olmedo if it’s currently possible for any judge in El Salvador to try any public official for these crimes.

He said they should be able to, and that this should be the first line of defense. But, he notes, the GIPES concluded that there is no judicial independence in El Salvador. That has pushed the legal debate to the international field.

It’s a debate a long time in the making. Back in 2023, just one year into the state of exception, Cristosal’s Zaira Navas told El Faro English in an interview that “President Bukele and members of his cabinet have made public statements that incite torture.”

She added: “History will have to investigate Bukele for his responsibility in inciting this type of conduct with the orders that he has given.”

Keeping options open on China

Last, we turn to Honduras. The new president supported by Trump, Tito Asfura, is maintaining Honduras’s fledgling diplomatic and trade relations with China by a thread.

The previous government of Xiomara Castro, of the left-wing party Libre, cut all ties with Taiwan in 2023 and opened diplomatic relations with China, beginning negotiations on a free trade agreement.

During his election campaign last year, Asfura promised to reestablish relations with Taiwan.

And Donald Trump’s endorsement of Asfura just days before the presidential election last November has cast a long U.S. shadow over the new government in Honduras.

But last weekend, at the Shield of the Americas Summit, Asfura was cautious. He assured that Honduras will review international agreements, including the one with China, and “seek the best conditions, the best deals, and the best relations with countries that benefit Honduras.”

And two weeks ago, on February 26, the new Foreign Minister Mireya Agüero met in Honduras with Chinese Ambassador Yu Bo to “continue strengthening cordial relations that promote beneficial projects with China.”

That’s diplomat-speak for, “we’re keeping our options open.”

As for the free-trade negotiations, they’ve been stalled since 2024. Last year, the Honduran Council on Private Enterprise (COHEP) told El Faro English for this podcast that negotiations on the treaty have been at a standstill.

The business sector thought that China was stalling the talks because Honduras wasn’t bringing enough to the table.

As for Asfura’s promise to get back with Taiwan, China expectedly stated that it would be a “violation of the one-China principle.”

But they also posted after the elections that “China respects the choice of the Honduran people and stands ready to work with Honduras to advance the bilateral relationship.”

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The outlook does not seem to favor China very much.

Digital outlet Contracorriente reported that COHEP presented data “indicating that bilateral trade between Honduras and China currently has a significantly higher volume, but with a trade deficit for Honduras.”

That means that Honduras is buying more Chinese goods than what it sells to the Asian giant.

But data from the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) reflects a more balanced trade relationship with Taiwan, the article noted.

Meanwhile, Trump plans to travel to China later this month. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they found “strategic stability” in the relationship with China.

Which is surprising coming from Rubio, a leading China hawk while in the Senate.

Asfura has repeatedly stood at Trump’s side in recent weeks, but we’ll see whether the U.S. president will permit that same kind of “strategic stability” for his lieutenants in Latin America.

Yuliana Ramazzini, Gabriela Cáceres, and Roman Gressier wrote this episode, with sound design by Omnionn. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.