It is 9:30 in the morning in El Salvador.
Journalist Julia Gavarrete answers the phone with a friendly voice, as if life was happening normally.
A new day begins in a country where the state of emergency has lasted since March 2022, which was imposed to combat gang violence.
Nayib Bukele's Government continues to maintain this singularity that part of the international community has criticized for the lack of constitutional guarantees for citizens.
Gavarrete collected an example of the consequences in his work
De ella A family that owes nothing flees from the Exception Regime
, Ortega y Gasset award for Best Story in 2023, through which he asks for justice for the unjustified persecutions that Salvadorans are suffering.
“I can't tell where they are.
His story did not end in that text.”
Gavarrete underlined with these words that the family – whom he accompanied for two months – “continues to be persecuted by the Bukele Government unjustly,” since they have proof of their innocence.
“There are more things that they want to reveal, but that cannot happen until they are in a safe place,” confirms the journalist.
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The call for the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Awards is open
The importance that Gavarrete gives to the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Prize (awards that have an open period for receiving nominations) lies not only in the recognition of his work, but in demonstrating stories like that of this family, in which rapes of human rights are still present and are eroding people's lives.
Despite the danger that also surrounds Gavarrete's daily life, giving up her profession is not an option for her: "For a Government in which laws are not important, journalism has to record this process to do justice in the future."
After receiving the award, the journalist took a three-month leave due to the continuous attacks on the press and the density of the stories, which were increasingly stronger.
“That brought me to a point of crisis that forced me to have to distance myself for a while and add more calm treatment,” says Gavarrete.
However, Bukele's re-election on February 4 has not diminished his strength.
Quite the opposite.
In recent days, he has been added to his journalistic work as part of the research area of a human rights organization.
Gavarrete focuses on the arbitrary detentions suffered by minors and continues to compile other types of violations caused by State abuses.
This organization is also in the Government's sights and suffers constant threats, which is why the journalist prefers not to mention its name.
There are more and more reports of journalists being threatened in El Salvador.
If there is something that gives the journalist hope in this complicated context, it is the courage of people: “It fills me with great joy to know that there are still people who can trust journalism and who see it as a door to give voice to that type of violations.”
Injustice, persecution, lack of freedom, attacks, threats and suffering are being recorded.
“And they will be part of valuable information that can attribute responsibilities in the future,” she concludes.