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El Salvador's Bukele announces plan to release up to half of emergency detainees

Plan would target people deemed gang collaborators; rights groups report 575 custody deaths under the emergency.

Updated Oct 15, 2026 · 10:22 UTC2 reports

The short version

  • Bukele announced a plan that could release up to half of people held under El Salvador's state of emergency.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • The plan would focus on people considered gang collaborators, a broad term that can cover lookouts and people who pay extortion.[ABC News]
  • Authorities arrested more than 90,000 people under the emergency, and rights groups report over 6,000 complaints and 575 custody deaths.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • Bukele gave no details on how cases would be assessed and defended keeping the emergency in place, saying he intends to end it eventually.[ABC News]

Key facts

  • Bukele announced a plan to release up to 50% of people imprisoned under the state of emergency.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • Authorities arrested more than 90,000 people since March 2022 under the state of emergency.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • The emergency was declared in March 2022 after a spike in violence and suspends rights including access to counsel, visitation, and being told the reasons for detention.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • Human rights organizations have registered more than 6,000 complaints and documented at least 575 deaths in government custody during the emergency.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • The plan would focus on people considered gang collaborators, a term that can include gang lookouts and people who make extortion payments.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • Bukele said collaborating with gangs was not unusual and that arresting everyone who collaborated would mean jailing 20% of the population.[ABC News]
  • According to government figures, homicides fell from over 100 per 100,000 residents in 2015 to 1.3 per 100,000 in 2025.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • The government has narrowed its homicide definition to exclude killings by police, murders in prisons, and bodies found in unmarked graves.[ABC News · Fox News]

What remains uncertain

  • The release criteria, timeline, and number of people who would qualify were not specified; authorities only plan to analyze cases.[ABC News]
  • Rights groups' complaint and custody-death figures are attributed to those organizations and are not independently verified in the reporting.[ABC News · Fox News]
  • The homicide decline is based on government figures using a narrowed definition, and independent verification is not reported.[ABC News · Fox News]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.