SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — El Salvador’s iron-fisted President Nayib Bukele proposed Thursday that minors be punished with life in prison in cases of murder or rape, extending a tough new law to people under 18.
The bill will be submitted to Congress, which is heavily dominated by the party of Bukele, a darling of United States President Donald Trump.
Last week the legislature passed a constitutional reform proposed by Bukele to allow sentences of life imprisonment for “murderers, rapists and terrorists.” Until now the maximum prison term in El Salvador was 60 years.
Now Bukele wants to extend the sentences to minors, regardless of whether they belong to gangs.
Bukele has filled El Salvador’s prisons with thousands of suspected gang members in a sweep that has raised allegations of major human rights abuses.
Presenting the bill to a legislative commission, Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said it was necessary to go hard on minors accused of serious crimes because the juvenile penal code is lax, making it easy for gangs to obtain “cheap, unpunished and recyclable human resources.”
Last year Congress passed a reform proposed by Bukele that allows minors accused of gang affiliation to be sent to prisons for adults.
The government has not yet said if is enforcing this new law.
Bukele, who has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” rules under a 2022 state of emergency during which crime has been slashed as authorities have arrested 91,000 people, often acting without warrants and accusing detainees of gang affiliation.
The crackdown has reduced homicide rates to historic lows but has generated criticism of human rights violations.
The non-government organization Cristosal recently released a report alleging that Bukele’s government is also holding dozens of political prisoners captive.
Bukele has waved off criticism of his security agenda.
“We will see who supports this reform and who dares to defend the idea that the Constitution should continue prohibiting murderers and rapists from remaining in prison,” Bukele said last week.