International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday criticized the “baseless charges” brought against two human rights defenders arrested by El Salvador police in May 2025 and called for their immediate release. José Ángel Pérez, 55, and 29-year-old Alejandro Antonio Henríquez were arrested while peacefully protesting the mass eviction of dozens of families from the El Bosque community near San Salvador. HRW claimed to have reviewed court documents and videos related to the arrest, asserting that these indicate that the arrests were arbitrary and the charges unfounded.

“The evidence we reviewed shows that these community leaders were detained simply for exercising their right to peaceful assembly,” stated Juanita Goebertus , Americas director at HRW. “Wh

See Full Page