One Year of Arbitrary Detention: Ruth López and the International Response
Amnesty International, the UN, and human rights organizations demand the immediate release of the Salvadoran lawyer after a year of imprisonment without trial
Ruth lleva ... días detenida arbitrariamente
May 18, 2025 — May 18, 2026: 365 Days of Injustice
On May 18, 2026, one year marked the arbitrary detention of Ruth Eleonora López Alfaro, a Salvadoran lawyer and human rights defender, captured in her home without a judicial warrant under a false pretext. What began that night — with National Civil Police agents fabricating a traffic accident to lure her out of her house — has become an international symbol of repression against critical voices in El Salvador.
In this year, Ruth has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and received multiple international recognitions that underscore the injustice of her detention. Yet the regime of Nayib Bukele continues to hold her in incommunicado detention, without trial, without evidence, and in violation of her fundamental rights.
Timeline of a Year of Injustice
May 2025: The Night That Changed Everything
On the night of May 18, police officers arrived at Ruth's home in San Salvador under deception: they claimed to be investigating a traffic accident. Ruth and her husband, Louis Benavides, came out in their pajamas. There was no accident, no judicial warrant. She was forced to undress and change clothes in the street, in front of neighbors and a prosecutor's photographer documenting the scene.
The next 40 hours were a forced disappearance. Her family called every possible authority without receiving a response. No one knew where Ruth was.
June 2025: Shifting Charges and Prosecutorial Secrecy
The Prosecutor's Office changed the charges twice: first embezzlement, then illicit enrichment. Without presenting new evidence. Without justification. At the initial hearing, the judge ordered 6 months of pretrial detention with total prosecutorial secrecy. Ruth managed to shout from the stand: "You will not silence me! I want a public trial!"
July 2025: Incommunicado Detention and International Recognition
On July 4, Ruth was transferred to the Granja de Izalco Women's Penitentiary Center. Since then, she has remained in total incommunicado detention — no visits from family or lawyers. That same month, Amnesty International formally declared her a prisoner of conscience, a designation historically applied to figures such as Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.
September 2025: The IACHR Intervenes
On September 22, the IACHR issued urgent precautionary measures, determining that Ruth faces a "serious and urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm" and ordering the Salvadoran State to end the incommunicado detention. The State has systematically ignored this order.
March 2026: The Context of Her Detention
In March 2025, an agreement between the Trump administration and Bukele led to the disappearance of 252 Venezuelans and Salvadorans, transferred to the CECOT prison without due process. Ruth was one of the few lawyers willing to challenge this injustice, filing more than 100 habeas corpus petitions. Shortly afterward, she was detained.
The International Response: A Chorus of Condemnation
The May 18 anniversary triggered a wave of statements from international bodies and human rights organizations.
Amnesty International
On May 20, 2026, Amnesty International published a forceful statement. Secretary General Agnès Callamard declared:
"Ruth López is a prisoner of conscience who has been unjustly detained for a year because of her tireless fight against corruption and her defense of social justice. We call for her immediate and unconditional release."
Amnesty highlighted that her incommunicado detention, restrictions on her right to defense, and lack of transparency in the proceedings "raise serious concerns about respect for judicial guarantees and due process, not only in her case, but also for the thousands of people arbitrarily detained in El Salvador."
United Nations (UN)
UN human rights experts issued a joint statement expressing alarm at Ruth López's prolonged detention. The special rapporteurs urged the Salvadoran State to release her immediately or consider alternative measures to pretrial detention, emphasizing that prolonged incommunicado detention constitutes a violation of international law.
WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America)
On May 15, WOLA published a special episode of its podcast Latin America Today titled "One Year Later: The Political Imprisonment of Ruth López in El Salvador", featuring Louis Benavides (Ruth's husband) and Noah Bullock (Executive Director of Cristosal). The episode examines how Ruth's case reflects the growing use of political imprisonment against critics and human rights defenders.
Cristosal
Cristosal, the organization where Ruth worked as director of the Anti-Corruption Unit, published a statement demanding her immediate release and noting that the Prosecutor's Office has not presented a single piece of evidence after a year of investigation. The organization was forced to relocate its headquarters from El Salvador to Guatemala in July 2025, citing persecution by the Bukele regime.
International Recognitions During Her Captivity
Despite being imprisoned and incommunicado, Ruth has received multiple international distinctions that validate the injustice of her detention:
- BBC 100 Women 2024 — Included in the list of the 100 most inspiring women in the world.
- 2025 International Human Rights Award — American Bar Association.
- Award for the Right to Defend Rights — Embassy of France and Mesa por el Derecho a Defender Derechos.
- Magnitsky Human Rights Award — Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.
- Anti-Crime & Corruption Hero Award — OCCRP, presented in Amsterdam.
- 2026 Sir Henry Brooke Award — Alliance for Lawyers at Risk, received in London by her husband.
What Comes Next?
On December 5, 2025, the court extended Ruth's pretrial detention by an additional six months, until June 2026. However, the expiration date approaches with no trial date scheduled, no evidence presented, and the State failing to comply with IACHR orders.
The international community continues to pressure. The voices demanding justice for Ruth grow louder every day. But in the meantime, she remains imprisoned, incommunicado, separated from her family and her son.
Ruth López marks one year of arbitrary detention. But her fight — and the fight of all those demanding her freedom — has only just begun.
Sign the [Avaaz petition](https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/fiscalia_general_de_la_republica_de_el_salvador_el_mundo_observa_justicia_y_libertad_para_ruth_lopez/) demanding her release.
#LibertadParaRuth #FreeRuthLopez
Ruth lleva más de 300 días detenida