My Wife’s Ordeal in El Salvador’s Prison System

Louis Benavides shares the harrowing story of his wife’s detention in El Salvador. Ruth López, an anticorruption lawyer, was arrested by Salvadoran authorities in May 2025. Writing from San Salvador, Louis describes the brutal reality of El Salvador’s prisons.

Ruth directed the Anti-Corruption and Justice Unit at Cristosal, a Central American human rights group. Her investigations addressed corruption in El Salvador, including the misuse of pandemic funds and fraud linked to Bitcoin adoption as legal tender. Ruth’s work was thorough, legal, and publicly known.

Her influential status seemed to offer protection. Two years prior, the BBC named her one of the 100 most influential women globally. Yet, this prominence likely led to her arrest on unfounded charges without a chance to defend herself.

Knowledge of El Salvador in the U.S. often centers around President Nayib Bukele. He is known for partnering with President Trump to detain Venezuelan migrants at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). His crackdown on gangs and crime is widely believed to have made streets safer in El Salvador.

However, Louis urges awareness of the crackdown’s toll. The government uses it to stifle dissent. Since declaring a state of emergency over four years ago, Bukele’s regime has detained around 90,000 people in mass raids, affecting nearly 2% of El Salvador’s adult population. Detainees rarely see family or legal counsel, languishing for years without trial. Their families often remain unsure if they are alive.

Raids indiscriminately target the guilty and the innocent. Without due process and before submissive courts, the innocent face bleak chances for fair trials. The government processes cases en masse, trying hundreds at once. April brought legal changes allowing life sentences even for children as young as 12.