Washington (EFE).- The administration of United States President Donald Trump has removed criticism of El Salvador, Israel, and Russia from its annual human rights report, but intensified accusations against Brazil and South Africa, countries viewed as rivals by the United States government.
The 2024 report, released Tuesday after months of delay, focuses on alleged restrictions on freedom of expression but omits sections from previous years on corruption and LGBT+ rights.
In El Salvador, the State Department stated there were “no credible reports of significant human rights violations,” in contrast to the 2023 report under former United States President Joe Biden, which cited torture and poor prison conditions.
The new document credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency for keeping gang violence “at a historic low.”
Bukele, a close Trump ally, has offered the US the use of his maximum security CECOT prison, criticized for human rights abuses, to house undocumented migrants accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, a criminal megaband originating in Venezuela, which has expanded to several countries in Latin America.
Regarding Israel, the report notes extrajudicial killings of Palestinians but says the government has acted to identify officials responsible for abuses during its Gaza offensive.
It removes earlier criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul and references to his corruption case.
While reiterating accusations of war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine, the document drops previous references to abuses against Russia’s LGBT+ community.
Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending the war.
In contrast, the report warns that “the human rights situation declined during the year in Brazil. “Recently, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods in retaliation for the trial of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, his political ally, accused of attempting to block the transfer of power of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The document accuses Brazil’s judiciary of disproportionate repression of Bolsonaro supporters and criticizes its temporary suspension of the social media platform X over disinformation concerns.
South Africa reports a “significant deterioration” in human rights due to land expropriations from the white Afrikaner minority, according to the report.
The US granted refuge in May to a group of Afrikaners, and Trump has accused Pretoria of a “genocide against whites,” a claim South African authorities strongly deny.
The report states Venezuela’s human rights situation “worsened significantly,” citing alleged electoral fraud favoring President Nicolás Maduro.
It repeats longstanding US accusations of genocide against China’s Uyghur Muslim minority and denounces Iran’s execution of hundreds of prisoners.
Since 1977, the State Department’s human rights reports have served as a guide for Congress in deciding foreign aid allocations.
This year, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the document was shortened to its minimum legal length, with references to corruption and gender based crimes removed. EFE
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