[Episcopal News Service] Salvadoran police have detained a lawyer who leads the anti-corruption unit of Cristosal, an Episcopal-affiliated organization committed to defending human rights and promoting democratic rule of law in Central America.
The lawyer, Ruth López, was taken into custody around 11 p.m. May 18 by agents of the National Civil Police, and since then, the government has provided no information about her location or whether she is safe, Cristosal said in a news release about López’s arrest. The organization denounced the police’s actions as “a serious human rights violation under international law.”
“The authorities’ refusal to disclose her location or to allow access to her legal representatives is a blatant violation of due process, the right to legal defense and international standards of judicial protection,” Cristosal said while objecting to what it said amounts to “an enforced disappearance.”
López had been scheduled to participate May 20 in a webinar organized by Episcopal Divinity School. Seminary officials, other Episcopal leaders and global justice advocates are joining Cristosal in drawing attention to the situation while pleading for her safe return.
“We call on Salvadoran authorities to immediately release Ruth López and urge the Salvadoran government to guarantee her physical safety and due process rights,” Amnesty International said in a May 19 letter that was signed by more than a dozen other organizations.
“Authoritarianism has increased in recent years as [Salvadoran] President Nayib Bukele has undermined institutions and the rule of law, and persecuted civil society organizations and independent journalists. Our organizations have been closely monitoring the closing of civic space and attacks on independent press in El Salvador and are deeply concerned at the increasingly pervasive environment of fear that threatens freedoms in the country.”
Lopez’s arrest comes as Bukele’s treatment of detainees has faced heightened scrutiny in the United States, after the Trump administration sent hundreds of migrants to an El Salvador prison under an agreement with Bukele’s government. Many of the migrants reportedly were deported under dubious pretexts, and U.S. judges and critics of the deportations have warned that Trump administration officials may have violated constitutional due process rights.
Cristosal was founded as a partnership between clergy in El Salvador and the United States in 2000. It has since become an independent nonprofit, with continued Episcopal support, and has expanded operations to Guatemala and Honduras. Over the past two and a half years, its staff has assisted over 7,500 internally displaced people in the Northern Triangle, where violence is driven by organized crime, narco-trafficking, and, increasingly, political instability.
López, through her work for Cristosal, had been named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women of 2024, earning praise for her “tireless dedication to human rights and transparency.”
“I simply do what I think I have to do,” she said in December after being included on the BBC’s list. “It is an enormous responsibility because there are hundreds and thousands of women human rights defenders in our country, brave women throughout our history who have done this all their lives.”
López also is known as a vocal critic of Bukele’s government, which has been accused of corruption. The Salvadoran attorney general confirmed her arrest in an online post on suspicion of “theft of funds from state coffers.” Other critics of the government say there is no validity to the charge.
El Salvador has been living under a state of emergency since March 2022, when Bukele suspended citizens’ fundamental rights and gave authorities the power to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of gang activity without due process.
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.