Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception

This article examines the social and political impacts of President Nayib Bukele’s 2023 opening of a megaprison in El Salvador by analyzing his government-funded international public relations campaign. We chronicle how the design of the prison, along with policies for arresting, detaining, and pros...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sarah C. Bishop, Mneesha Gellman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press
Series:Latin American Research Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427825100618/type/journal_article
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1839639723070455808
author Sarah C. Bishop
Mneesha Gellman
author_facet Sarah C. Bishop
Mneesha Gellman
author_sort Sarah C. Bishop
collection DOAJ
description This article examines the social and political impacts of President Nayib Bukele’s 2023 opening of a megaprison in El Salvador by analyzing his government-funded international public relations campaign. We chronicle how the design of the prison, along with policies for arresting, detaining, and prosecuting Salvadorans for alleged gang-related crimes, offers a mirage of transparency that obstructs the visibility needed to protect the human rights of Salvadorans. Our analysis places empirical accounts of conditions in El Salvador in conversation with the largely Twitter/X-based public relations campaign announcing the new prison. We show how the campaign works to justify an alarming degradation of democratic principles and practices during the current régimen de excepción (state of exception). Bukele rationalizes an iron-fist-style approach to gang violence while simultaneously silencing political opposition and obfuscating the expanding scope of state human rights violations. We argue that the trade-offs being made in El Salvador between increased safety for some and human rights violations for others ultimately contribute to the corrosion of democracy. Moreover, we discuss how Bukele’s tough-on-crime populism simultaneously produces and exports an “authoritarian playbook” for wider regional democratic erosion in line with Bukele’s model.
format Article
id doaj-art-7cdcd02c99b24aacbe00b9dd5ef3affa
institution Matheson Library
issn 1542-4278
language English
publisher Cambridge University Press
record_format Article
series Latin American Research Review
spelling doaj-art-7cdcd02c99b24aacbe00b9dd5ef3affa2025-07-04T06:26:19ZengCambridge University PressLatin American Research Review1542-427811910.1017/lar.2025.10061Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of ExceptionSarah C. Bishop0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4145-8865Mneesha Gellman1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7610-2597Baruch College, New York, New York, USEmerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USThis article examines the social and political impacts of President Nayib Bukele’s 2023 opening of a megaprison in El Salvador by analyzing his government-funded international public relations campaign. We chronicle how the design of the prison, along with policies for arresting, detaining, and prosecuting Salvadorans for alleged gang-related crimes, offers a mirage of transparency that obstructs the visibility needed to protect the human rights of Salvadorans. Our analysis places empirical accounts of conditions in El Salvador in conversation with the largely Twitter/X-based public relations campaign announcing the new prison. We show how the campaign works to justify an alarming degradation of democratic principles and practices during the current régimen de excepción (state of exception). Bukele rationalizes an iron-fist-style approach to gang violence while simultaneously silencing political opposition and obfuscating the expanding scope of state human rights violations. We argue that the trade-offs being made in El Salvador between increased safety for some and human rights violations for others ultimately contribute to the corrosion of democracy. Moreover, we discuss how Bukele’s tough-on-crime populism simultaneously produces and exports an “authoritarian playbook” for wider regional democratic erosion in line with Bukele’s model.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427825100618/type/journal_articleEl Salvadorstate of exceptionmegaprisonhuman rightsgang violenceEl Salvadorestado de excepciónmegacárcelderechos humanosviolencia de pandillas
spellingShingle Sarah C. Bishop
Mneesha Gellman
Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
Latin American Research Review
El Salvador
state of exception
megaprison
human rights
gang violence
El Salvador
estado de excepción
megacárcel
derechos humanos
violencia de pandillas
title Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
title_full Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
title_fullStr Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
title_full_unstemmed Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
title_short Hidden in Plain Sight: The In/Visibility of Human Rights in El Salvador’s Prisons Under the State of Exception
title_sort hidden in plain sight the in visibility of human rights in el salvador s prisons under the state of exception
topic El Salvador
state of exception
megaprison
human rights
gang violence
El Salvador
estado de excepción
megacárcel
derechos humanos
violencia de pandillas
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427825100618/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahcbishop hiddeninplainsighttheinvisibilityofhumanrightsinelsalvadorsprisonsunderthestateofexception
AT mneeshagellman hiddeninplainsighttheinvisibilityofhumanrightsinelsalvadorsprisonsunderthestateofexception