Salvadoran families demand fair trials, mourn prison dead on Day of the Dead

Relatives of people detained under El ​Salvador's controversial state of exception gathered at the ​San Salvador metropolitan cathedral on Saturday to ‌leave ​offerings for inmates who have died behind bars, demanding justice.

Participants arrived carrying yellow and red flowers, banners and photographs of jailed family members. Inside the capital's ‌cathedral, they knelt in prayer around the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a saint, and placed flowers there. On the cathedral steps, the group held a rally honoring the dead and remembering relatives still in custody. Many ‌of those present have had no contact with their detained relatives since their arrest, and - in some cases - ‌do not know whether their relatives are still alive.

Natalia Funes, 61, a farmer from Puerto El Triunfo in the eastern province of Usulutan, attended in hopes of seeking answers about her jailed son. Her son, Oscar Orlando Rodriguez, was arrested in July 2022 and ⁠has ​been held incommunicado since. "I am ⁠a distraught mother, a mother who has never seen my son. I am a mother who has never seen their face ⁠or heard from them," Funes said.

El Salvador's state of exception, imposed by President Nayib Bukele four years ago, has allowed ​security forces to detain more than 90,000 people. Cristosal, a prominent human rights organization, has documented 454 deaths ⁠in Salvadoran prisons among people detained under the state of exception.

Many relatives of those still detained fear their loved ones will become an ⁠unwanted ​addition to the statistic. Protesters used the Day of the Dead, observed on November 1 and 2 across several Latin American countries, to remember those who died behind bars, and also called for fair ⁠trials for detainees who remain jailed.

Liliana Urias, 44, spokeswoman for the Mothers for Freedom movement, said some members of ⁠the movement had lost ⁠a son, a brother or the father of their children. "We are here in memory of all the innocent people who have died under the state of exception," ‌Urias said.