On Monday 12 May, police and military forces from the Salvadorean State violently repressed hundreds of members of the El Bosque cooperative located in El Triunfo, Santa Tecla, who were carrying out a peaceful protest to demand a halt to the illegal eviction of approximately 300 families from the community. The security forces used tear gas and beat the men, women and even children who were participating in the demonstration. Furthermore, three community leaders were detained, one of whom – Alejandro Henríquez – is the cooperative’s lawyer and remains deprived of his liberty charged with “public disorder”.

According to the El Bosque cooperative, the Santa Tecla Labor Court ordered the eviction from their property of some 300 community families that have been living on the land for decades because of a case of fraud committed by Luis Palomo Urbina, setting 22 May as the deadline to carry out the eviction. Faced with this situation, the community has mobilized peacefully to stop the illegal eviction, appealing to various institutions and authorities that have turned a deaf ear to their demands.

The Salvadorean Network of Women Defenders and IM-Defensoras condemn this brutal collective attack against the El Bosque cooperative, we demand the immediate release of those detained and guarantees of protection for community members.

We urge the authorities to respond to the legitimate demands of the community of El Bosque and stop an eviction that would leave almost three hundred families in a highly precarious and vulnerable situation.

We call on the international community to express their solidarity with the El Bosque cooperative and remain attentive to the situation.