O-blog-dee-o-blog-da

BY MELANIE NATHAN, April 23, 2025, 11.02 am EST.

Surprise surprise….. no upload of 2024 U.S. State Department Human Rights Country Reports – The screenshot below shows past dates when they were uploaded to the State department webpage. We expected the 2024 report by today and that would have been late. Nothing yet. These would reflect reporting from the year during the Biden Admin.  I would not be surprised if the Rubio reorganization is placing this in jeopardy. These reports are critical for many reasons.

Now that the USA under Trump is participating in the human rights infractions that we report as such, including state sponsored disappearances, it is not surprising they are not uploading the reports, where countries are called out for these practices. One has to wonder if we will ever seen another Human Report from a Trump Vance Rubio State Department again. In fact in anticipation of the likely malfeasance, and eradication of history, I downloaded all the existing reports for certain countries into PDF on my cloud.

NOTE: I have included 2 screenshots as examples from the Human Rights reports for 2023 for DRC and Russia – to show how they read in the Disappearances section for 2023, of interest now given US is engaged in similar behavior.!

These reports encompass a multitude of aspects from Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings, Disappearances, to State sponsored violence, Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses. Persecution, Corruption, Freedoms, Includes Women, Children LGBTQI+ , Refugees, Migrants, Antisemitism, Disabled, Press – Prison conditions, etc. etc. AND MUCH MORE..

HERE IS THE 2023 REPORT for PRISON CONDITIONS in EL SALVADOR from the U.S. Human Rights Report for 2023:

Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions before the state of exception were harsh and life threatening due to gross overcrowding; inadequate sanitary conditions; insufficient food and water shortages; a lack of medical services in prison facilities; and physical attacks. The addition of 72,000 detainees under the state of exception exacerbated the problem. Human rights organizations reported that as of August 22, more than 70 detainees died in prisons from violence, insufficient medical care, and chronic health conditions.

Abusive Physical Conditions: Prisons were severely overcrowded, as the number of detainees increased and only a limited number were released. As of July, the government reported that 71,776 persons were detained under the state of exception. In 2021, the prison system had a capacity of 30,000 and was already overcrowded. The government inaugurated a new prison with a reported capacity for 40,000 on January 31, but as of September, only 12,000 detainees had been moved into it. A prisoner released from the Izalco prison reported that 100 prisoners were held in a cell built for 50.

Detainees released from the Izalco and La Esperanza prisons reported a lack of food and potable water and being limited to two tortillas, one spoonful of beans, and one glass of water per day. They also reported limited water for sanitation. Human rights organizations noted released prisoners reported severe heat and lack of ventilation in the cells and prolonged confinement, without the opportunity for movement or the use of sanitary facilities.

Released prisoners and their families reported a lack of access to medical care or medicine in prison. One released prisoner reported to El País that his diabetic cellmate received insulin only two or three times during his period of incarceration and died suddenly in his sleep. Although families of prisoners were often instructed to bring medicine to the prison for the prisoner, the medicine often did not reach the prisoner. Human rights organizations reported communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and scabies were widespread in the prisons.
Human rights groups and news outlets reported unsanitary conditions and limited food and medical care in women’s prisons. There were reports of life-threatening lack of medical care or sanitation for detained pregnant women and young children held with their mothers. On July 24, the newspaper El Faro published an interview with a released prisoner who gave birth while in prison. She reported being held in a unit with 150 other pregnant women in the Izalco prison farm, with two doctors assigned to them. She reported receiving only sporadic prenatal care and extremely limited access to medicine. Cristosal published a statement from a released prisoner who reported many pregnant women miscarried due to a lack of medical care.

Young babies often stayed with their mothers in prison and received limited medical care, despite widespread scabies and other communicable diseases. The newspaper El Diario de Hoy reported that on May 17, a girl, age one, died of pneumonia after being held in Apanteos prison with her mother for six months. Socorro Jurídico Humanitario reported a baby, age six months, born while his mother was held in Izalco, died of kidney failure, liver failure, and pneumonia on June 26, six days after he was transferred from the prison to the care of other members of his family.