美国国家公共电台 NPR--What's behind the mass detentions in El Salvador?

What's behind the mass detentions² in El Salvador?

Transcript³

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Tamara Taraciuk Broner of Human Rights Watch about 10,000 gang suspects arrested in El Salvador as the president consolidates⁴ power.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Human rights activists⁵ are questioning El Salvador's crackdown on crime. Gang violence recently killed 87 people in three days, which is a lot in a small country. President Nayib Bukele responded by declaring a state of emergency and having thousands of people arrested. Human Rights Watch is looking at this, and we've called Tamara Taraciuk Broner from that organization. Welcome to the program.

TAMARA TARACIUK BRONER: Hi. Good morning.

INSKEEP: Let's start with the 87 gang-related killings⁶. How serious is the problem the president says he wants to address?

BRONER: It's a very serious problem. There's no doubt that gangs have committed heinous⁷ crimes and that the government needs to protect people from gang violence. They need to dismantle⁸ these groups, and they need to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice. But the problem is that instead of doing that, the Bukele government has enacted⁹ overly broad, very punitive¹⁰ laws that just undermine the fundamental rights of all Salvadorans.

INSKEEP: Can you be specific there? Which civil rights are being curtailed¹¹?

BRONER: Well, they adopted, first, a very vague state of emergency that suspends for 30 days the rights to freedom of association, the rights of assembly, privacy and communications, some due process protections. And just a few days later, the National Assembly adopted a series of criminal laws that, for example, allow for criminal charges against anyone who assists or creates any type of publication, including a graffiti. They allow for faceless judges. They've increased penalties for people allegedly involved in gangs of up to 45 years, and they have made pretrial detention¹ mandatory¹² in these cases.

INSKEEP: Can you help me understand something? You said the freedom of assembly is being curtailed, along with a lot of other things, and that publication has become a crime. That sounds like political repression¹³ rather than attacking gang violence. Am I wrong?

BRONER: No, that is correct. The problem is that these laws are so vague that they allow authorities to round up anyone - and they've been doing that - without any guarantees that the people that are being detained - and, you know, we're talking about more than 12,000 people in just a handful of weeks are, in fact, engaged in crimes. And when you're tried by a faceless judge, there's no guarantee that the person on the other side is actually independent and investigating a crime.

INSKEEP: I wouldn't want a faceless judge either, but is there some justification¹⁴ here because the judge might fear gang retaliation¹⁵ in an unsafe country?

BRONER: There is, of course, a reason to fear and that judges need to be protected. But the way to do that is not by undermining the rule of law but rather by strengthening it. And the problem in El Salvador is that the president has taken over the legislature. He controls the legislative¹⁶ assembly, and he controls the courts. So today, you don't have any institution in El Salvador that is independent and can put a check on his powers. So he wants to adopt a state of emergency, and he goes to Congress and he gets it passed. He wants these laws to pass, and they pass. And then you have his police implementing¹⁷ it. And when you look at his Twitter account, which is the way he governs, you have tweets from the president himself saying, you know, do you want to know why this person is a gang member? Look at their tattoos¹⁸. That is not the way to investigate crimes.

INSKEEP: Can you follow up there? When you said his Twitter account, which is the way that he governs, Americans have a little bit of experience with presidents like that. What do you mean by that?

BRONER: I mean, he expresses what needs to happen in public policy through Twitter. But then it happens because he controls the judiciary, and he controls the legislature. And he's been attacking and undermining the free press and the work of civil society. And you do not have institutions that are strong enough to respond in El Salvador.

INSKEEP: Freedom House - I was looking at the rankings. Freedom House ranks countries according to how free they are or are not, and El Salvador wasn't doing very well to begin with. They're kind of a middling country at best, ranked only partly free. Has it grown significantly worse in the past few weeks?

BRONER: It has gone significantly worse, I would say, in the couple of years since Bukele took office. Look, when we talk about repression in Latin America, people usually think about the dictatorships in Cuba, in Venezuela, in Nicaragua. But what we're seeing in the region - and Bukele is an excellent example of that - is people who get to power through democratic elections, and once they are in power, they just turn their back on democratic guarantees. And Bukele has done that at an alarming speed.

INSKEEP: I'm looking at a poll here that shows his approval rating very high, in the 80% range. Do you believe that number? And why do you think it would be, given all that you've said?

BRONER: He is very popular, and that is one of the biggest challenges we have when these sorts of things happen in a country like El Salvador. And he is popular because he managed, in a way, to reduce homicides during the first couple of years of his mandate¹⁹. It's - the problem here is that you have this spike²⁰ of violence in three days, which is the consequence of probably his truce²¹ with the gangs breaking. So this is not a clear public security policy. This is just an arrangement that hasn't brought security to the people. And he won't get it through these repressive laws.

INSKEEP: Tamara Taraciuk Broner is acting²² America's director of Human Rights Watch. Thanks so much.

BRONER: Thank you for having me.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 consolidates   

巩固

参考例句：

• We've made a good start, now it's time to consolidate. 我们有了一个良好的开端，现在应该加以巩固。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Yuan Shih-k'ai, a would-be Oriental Bonaparte, now attempted to consolidate his power. 当时，一度可能成为东方波拿巴的袁世凯试图巩固他的权力。 来自英汉非文学 - 新闻报道

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

7 heinous   

adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的

参考例句：

• They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
• I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。

8 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

9 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

10 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

11 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

13 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

14 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

15 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

17 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

18 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

20 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

21 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

22 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。