Politics · Other · 3 hrs ago
Bukele plans to release up to half of those detained under El Salvador emergency
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced a plan to release some prisoners detained under the country’s state of emergency.
The plan could cover up to half of the more than 90,000 people arrested since the emergency began in March 2022.
It focuses on people deemed to have collaborated with gangs, a category that can include both lookouts and people who paid extortion.
The emergency targeted gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18 and has reduced the homicide rate, but it also suspended rights such as access to a lawyer and information about the reasons for detention.
Human rights groups have recorded more than 6,000 complaints and at least 575 deaths in government custody, and say arbitrary arrests have caused serious harm.
Authorities are expected to review cases for possible early release with monitoring, but Bukele gave no details about how that process will work.
President Nayib Bukele announced a plan that could release up to half of those detained under El Salvador’s state of emergency.
The plan would focus on people considered collaborators with gangs, and authorities would review cases for possible early release with monitoring.
More than 90,000 people have been arrested under the emergency since it began in March 2022.
Human rights groups say the measure has led to arbitrary arrests and have documented deaths in government custody.
- Who
- Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced the plan. It could affect people detained under the state of emergency.
- What
- Authorities plan to review cases for possible early release with monitoring, potentially releasing up to half of those detained.
- When
- Bukele announced the plan Tuesday night. The article was published on October 14, 2026.
- Where
- El Salvador.
- Why
- Bukele said the plan would address cases involving people who collaborated with gangs. He has defended the emergency as necessary to rein in gangs.
Bukele and the Salvadoran government
Human rights groups and critics
Emergency measure
Bukele and the Salvadoran government
Bukele says the emergency is necessary to rein in gangs and has defended maintaining it for now.
Human rights groups and critics
Human rights groups say the measure has led to widespread arbitrary arrests and have called for it to end.
Proposed releases
Bukele and the Salvadoran government
The plan would review cases for possible early release with monitoring.
Human rights groups and critics
Critics say release alone would not repair the harm caused by prolonged imprisonment; Bertha Deleón called for compensation for victims of arbitrary detention.
El Salvador’s state of emergency began, and authorities arrested more than 90,000 people under it.
Bukele announced a plan to review cases for possible early release with monitoring.
Government figures put El Salvador’s homicide rate at 1.3 per 100,000 residents.
- Potential releases
- Up to 50% of people detained under the emergency
- Arrests
- More than 90,000 since March 2022
- Complaints
- More than 6,000 registered by human rights organizations
- Deaths in custody
- At least 575 documented by human rights groups
- Homicide rate
- 1.3 per 100,000 residents in 2025, according to government figures
What people are saying
There are many people who have indeed committed crimes, but their crime was collaborating with gangs
They deserve to be in jail, but we come from a country where collaborating with gangs wasn’t so unusual, and if we were to arrest everyone who collaborated with gangs, we would have to arrest 20% of the population.
The victims of arbitrary detentions don’t just deserve to recover their freedom, but they also deserve to be compensated for the harms caused by the State of El Salvador: the physical and mental harm that imprisonment causes, family suffering, loss of work or studies, reputational damage, among others,