Ruth López Alfaro

Ruth Eleonora López Alfaro is a Salvadoran lawyer internationally recognized for her work as a human rights defender and anti-corruption advocate. Graduated with honors from the University of Havana, Ruth dedicated her career to strengthening transparency and democracy in El Salvador, defending the rights of those who have been harmed by the State.

Her work was not noise: it was evidence. Ruth led 15 investigations that exposed systematic government corruption. She filed 17 lawsuits against the Ministry of Health for non-compliance with the law. She brought legal actions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, challenged the unconstitutional reform of the Constitution, contested the metallic mining law, and filed multiple public complaints. She made more than 120 requests for access to public information—all were denied or ignored. Ruth didn't just talk: she accumulated evidence. And that made her an existential threat to the regime.

On May 18, 2025, Ruth was arbitrarily arrested at her home under false pretenses. For 40 hours she suffered forced disappearance without her family knowing her whereabouts. The charges against her—first embezzlement, then changed without justification to illicit enrichment—lack evidence and are directly linked to her work exposing the corruption of Nayib Bukele's regime. Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience in July 2025.

Since July 4, 2025, Ruth has been held at the Izalco Penitentiary Center in total incommunicado detention. She has had no contact whatsoever with her family or lawyers for over 5 months. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined that she faces "conditions of torture" and risk of irreparable harm to her life and integrity. Prison staff reported that visits are prohibited "as long as the President of the Republic is in office"—an indefinite prohibition extending until at least 2029.