In an unprecedented legal proceeding, 486 suspected gang members are facing trial simultaneously in El Salvador, with defendants watching court hearings on large screens from inside maximum-security facilities where they remain restrained with handcuffs and leg shackles.
The historic mass trial represents the largest of its kind under President Nayib Bukele’s aggressive anti-gang campaign. Since implementing emergency powers in April 2022, Bukele has suspended constitutional protections and authorized the detention of more than 91,000 individuals, mostly suspected members of MS-13 and Barrio 18 criminal organizations.
El Salvador became the only Latin American nation to permit mass trials after Bukele’s New Ideas party enacted legislation allowing such proceedings. The current defendants are housed across five different correctional facilities, including the high-security CECOT prison that opened in 2023 as a cornerstone of the president’s zero-tolerance approach.
At CECOT, inmates wear white uniforms and have shaved heads, with some displaying tattoos associated with MS-13. Armed security personnel maintain constant surveillance of the facility.
Legal authorities have charged the alleged gang members with involvement in more than 47,000 criminal acts spanning from 2012 to 2022, encompassing extortion schemes, weapons trafficking, and murder.
However, the mass trial defendants face charges solely for gang association and will receive sentences based on membership rather than specific crimes, according to Ana Maria Mendez, Central America director for the Washington Office on Latin America. Following standard practice for El Salvador’s criminal courts, the proceedings remain closed to public observation.
“There is no way to see and verify that the information the prosecutors present is true. Secrecy is now the norm in El Salvador,” Mendez stated.
Given the volume of detained individuals and extended pre-trial periods, mass trials will likely become standard practice in El Salvador, she predicted.
Salvadoran defense attorney Roxana Cardona criticized the process, saying “Mass trials are just formalities. They violate the right to defense, which allows lawyers to sit down with their accused clients and build a defense strategy. In mass trials, that is completely lost.”
Neither a Bukele representative nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment.
Bukele has justified mass trials as essential tools in combating gangs that previously controlled large portions of the nation. His hardline crime policies have earned widespread approval from Salvadorans, establishing him as one of Latin America’s most popular political leaders.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued fresh concerns Tuesday regarding rights violations during El Salvador’s emergency period and urged authorities to discontinue using emergency measures for crime fighting.
Government officials attribute the gang crackdown conducted under emergency authority to reducing last year’s homicide rate to 1.3 per 100,000 residents, down from 7.8 in 2022.
