Free Ruth
One year has passed since human rights lawyer Ruth López was detained and then imprisoned by the Salvadoran government.
Today, May 18, is the one year anniversary of the arrest and detention of human rights attorney Ruth López by the Bukele regime in El Salvador. She was the head of the Anti-corruption and Justice unit at Cristosal, the prominent Salvadoran human rights organization. Both López and Cristosal have been outspoken critics of the Bukele government for its human rights record and patterns of corruption.
Ruth was arrested by the Attorney General’s Office at her home on the night of May 18, 2025. She remains in pretrial detention in a Salvadoran prison, accused of embezzlement and illicit enrichment, charges that she, her legal team, and international human rights organizations assert are politically motivated. For months she has been denied outside contact with either her family, or her lawyers, a violation of basic due process and human rights suffered by tens of thousands under Bukele’s State of Exception. The court has put her case entirely under seal, prohibiting the public from observing any part of the process.
“Have some decency, one day this will all end. You can’t lend yourselves to this.”
— Ruth López, to arresting officers on May 18, 2025.
For a profile of Ruth, and an account of her arrest and subsequent imprisonment, read this excellent piece by Gabriel Labrador titled The Dictatorship in El Salvador Takes Ruth López Hostage.
In the days leading up to Ruth López’s arrest, Bukele had acted against other activists. On May 12 and 13, riot and military police were sent out to break up a group of about 150 people, including many children and elderly, from Cooperativa El Bosque, and then arrested a community leader and evangelical pastor, Jose Angel Perez, and environmental lawyer, Alejandro Henriquez, who were accompanying the community. The families had been peacefully picketing in front of the exclusive residential development where Bukele lives for several days to raise awareness of the pending eviction of their community of nearly 300 campesino families.
And López’s arrest would not be the last. The government of El Salvador arrested prominent attorney Enrique Anaya two weeks later. The constitutional lawyer frequently spoke in public and wrote on social media, about the constitution and the rule of law in El Salvador. He has been an outspoken critic of Nayib Bukele’s capture of the judicial system in El Salvador and violations of the constitution. Anaya also remains in a Salvadoran prison.
Last March, Cristosal issued a report describing 85 political prisoners in addition to Ruth who are being held in Salvadoran prisons.
The news that additional arrest warrants were being prepared after Ruth’s arrest for the arrest of journalists on the staff of El Faro led them, and many other journalists, to go into exile.
For a year now, Cristosal, Ruth’s family and human rights advocates the world over have been demanding that the Salvadoran government free Ruth and that any trial be fully public, transparent and with full due process guarantees. The government of El Salvador ignores them.
“I am a political prisoner, the accusations are for my legal work, for my reporting this administration’s corruption. There are no institutions that guarantee Salvadorans’ rights. I am innocent.” — Ruth López, shouting to reporters while being escorted to a court hearing.
Add your voice to today’s calls to #FreeRuth by sharing this post and doing your own advocacy for her freedom.