It was not on the street; it was inside his home. “They took him away… and he has now completed three years in detention,” says Silvia Carolina Martínez de Ruiz about her husband. Since then, she has known nothing about him, except that he is being held at Mariona prison. Between marches, absence, and the…
Fifteen days turned into years. “They told me they were taking him for 15 days… and now it has been more than three years,” says Santos Matilde Munguía Membreño about her son, Santos Cristian Arriaza Munguía, detained since 2022. Since then, life has been sustained through work, the packages she manages to send him, and…
He was once the pride of his community before becoming an absence: “They took him from his home… sick, only to question him,” recalls Silvia Yanira Hernández about her son, Saúl Antonio Blanco Hernández, a former beach soccer national team player, detained since 2022. Three years later, although —she says— “his record is clean,” he…
In the official narrative, security is presented as victory. In everyday life, absence becomes permanent. “They told me they would return him to me in 15 days… and it has already been three years,” says Anayladi Rebelo through tears, mother of José Armando, detained during the state of exception under El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele….
He served the State, protected those in power, and today remains behind bars. José Alexander Martín Espineda was a soldier for five years and a member of the presidential honor guard. Today, his name appears in charges of “illicit associations.” “They took him from the house,” says María Antonia Martín, while firmly insisting on his…
No clock can measure this wait: “They told us they would return in 15 minutes… and it has already been more than three years,” says Dora Gladys Mejía through tears, mother of two young men who were detained. Since then, she has lived without answers: she does not know if they are alive, if they…
Two sons, two absences, and a wait with no answers. Laura Inés Franco does not know why Gustavo Adolfo and José Moisés Méndez Franco were taken that morning in January 2023. “We only know they are alive because we bring packages,” she says, while supporting her family alone after the death of her husband. Since…
May 10 ceased to be a day of celebration. “That day he came to visit me… and that night they told me he had been captured,” says Silvia Yolanda García Ábrego about her son, Mauro Salvador Martínez García. Since then, more than three years have passed without knowing whether he is alive. A single mother,…
She was 24 when the door opened without explanation. “They came in and took him away… and to this day we know nothing,” says Idalia Esmeralda Mijango about the father of her son, detained in 2022. Since then, time has been measured in absence. He worked every day, in a community where —she says— there…
Amid record security figures and international recognition, some stories do not fit within official narratives. In El Salvador, the state of exception has reduced violence, but it has also left thousands of detentions without due process. “They took my father away… and we know nothing about him,” says Ana Enríquez, 19. Her testimony reflects the…