A report in the newspaper La Prensa Gráfica denounced the arbitrary detention of those young people who performed a play in Bajo Lempa and highlighted a statement by Bajo Lempa’s grassroots church communities calling for the freedom of minors.
Some sources cited by the media claim that the boys were pursued by the authorities after they performed a play at the school where they are studying.
The newspaper said residents and leaders of the Amando López Quintana community in the canton of El Zamorano in the jurisdiction of Jiquilisco, Usulután, said the boys’ ages ranged from 14 to 17 years.
The youths were arrested at their homes on the night of Saturday, November 5, as part of the state of emergency.
“The soldiers took them away, they even smashed down doors in the children’s homes. They were photographed on the day the work was presented, and the day before (October 29) they had been searched and beaten. They took pictures of them and then made them wait to catch them,” said a relative of one of the detainees.
Presumably, witnesses emphasize, they informed the relatives at the El Zamorano police station that the minors were being investigated for alleged connections to criminal structures.
A source quoted by the newspaper said that “we saw them in the delegation and the children were being beaten and abused. They were asked for an explanation for their arrest, but did not give it. I think it could be retaliation because a soldier said that because they wore military clothes to work,” he explained.
People who know the young people cited by La Prensa Gráfica say that they are very involved in community activities and that they took part in the work called “Reseña Histórica de El Salvador” to regulate notes on some of their subjects .
I saw no connection to criminal groups, said an anonymous source from the school center where the minors are studying.
The capture has sparked outrage in the community and the case is currently generating opinion not favorable to the government’s policy of fighting the gangs, despite its findings.
Meanwhile, some sources warn that military sectors are trying to stir up unrest among the military ranks and the populace, likely to hit the government.
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