Mental health burdens
Ramirez is among the advocates who say children are suffering under the uncertainty and widespread detentions taking place in El Salvador.
In 2025, El Salvador had the highest incarceration rate in the world, with approximately 1.7 percent of its population in prison — roughly twice the rate of the next highest country, Cuba.
According to human rights organisations such as MOVIR, El Salvador’s youth are among the most seriously impacted by the downstream effects of mass incarceration, especially when their caregivers are imprisoned.
“There is a very grave situation with children,” said Ramirez. “There are many children who have been left without their parents, so those who used to provide for their basic needs are not there any more.”
As a result, experts say the affected children are experiencing psychological issues.
“Anxiety issues in these children have increased,” said a psychologist with Azul Originario, a nonprofit youth organisation based in San Salvador.
The psychologist often works with children whose parents have been abducted. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, as NGO workers and critical voices have been intimidated, surveilled and, in some cases, arrested under El Salvador’s state of exception.
“Sometimes they don’t want to do any physical activity or any studying,” she said.
“They don’t want to spend time with other children or go outside. They’re afraid of authorities, because some of them experienced the authorities taking their parents away.”
At a recent demonstration near San Salvador’s Cuscatlan Park, several families echoed those observations.
Among them was Fatima Gomez, 47, whose adult son was arrested in 2022. He left behind two daughters, ages 10 and three.
With their mother working full-time, Gomez has been taking care of the children. But she has noticed the eldest daughter seems traumatised.
“When she sees soldiers and police, she starts crying and runs inside,” Gomez said of the 10-year-old. “She says they are going to take all of us, too.”
Gomez had gathered with a crowd of men and women to demand the release of their loved ones.
Clutched in Gomez’s hands is a blue printed poster, emblazoned with her son’s face and a single word: “innocent”.
It flutters in a rush of wind from the passing traffic.
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