2013

My name is Carlos Santos, I was born the 15 September 1966 in El Salvador, the same day we celebrate the independence from Spanish rule in almost all Latin American countries. I do not believe in predestination, but most people who knew me said I was going to be a patriot. When I was 3 years old we had war with neighbouring Honduras, images of planes circling the sky have stuck in my head as blurry ad yellow prints. There was a collective horror; people walking in the dark at night, no lights lit in houses for fear of being targeted by an enemy plane.

Since elementary school I've written short stories and poems, I found a passion for literature at an early age. When I was 11 I won the first contest in literature, then.

In 1978, social movements began to protest against the military dictatorship that had ruled El Salvador since the beginning of the century. The streets were flooded with protesters, the government responded with shrapnel, and every day the same scene: hundreds of people dying in the street. In 1980, the armed opposition had called for an armed rebellion, the war began with the shadow of death, every day hundreds of mutilated bodies appeared in the streets, covering every corner of the country. The guerrilla with few weapons and few men faced a powerful enemy supported by the power of the U.S.

Images of planes circling the sky have stuck in my head as blurry ad yellow prints.

When I turned 16, I started to study theatre at the National Centre of Arts, a place where liberal thought was the norm. Studying theatre I understood what was happening around me; I learned to identify those responsible for these painful deaths that had brought shame to our country. Although radio and television called the rebels traitors and bad children of our country, I was no longer a patriot.

So I started writing plays for a student theatre group, we presented the plays in schools, parks and squares. Until one day we were captured by police, who identified themselves as members of the death squad. We spent a month in a cell underground, they tortured us every day and accused us of belonging to the rebels, they sent us to a prison in which there were a lot of political prisoners, and for one year we remained locked inside the jail. We suffered daily harassment by the police who threatened us with their weapons, or hit us when they came to our cells.

When I left prison, I went to live in Mexico due to the threat of the death squads that murdered any political prisoner released from jail. In Mexico I studied at the university, and continued writing fiction, short stories and plays. I won several literary prizes and contests. After four years of living in Mexico I moved to Canada and lived there for 20 years.

I returned to El Salvador 8 years ago and started working as a journalist. I founded the association for survivors of torture (Asociación Salvadoreña de Sobrevivientes de Tortura) and I have been working as a human rights defender since then.

2015

Carlos Santos is the founder of the Salvadorean Association for Survivors of Torture and currently works as a journalist for the El Faro newspaper. An avid human rights defender, Carlos has devoted his life's work to fighting against injustice and oppression. The main focus of his work rests on his desire to bring to light the abuses suffered by his fellow countrymen during El Salvador's civil war, and to finally provide a voice for those unable to speak for themselves. For this, and so many other reasons, Carlos decided to apply to the Centre for Applied Human Rights' Protective Fellowship Scheme in order to gain the requisite knowledge and tools that will enable him to take his advocacy work to greater heights.

The most valuable aspect of the programme for Carlos was the in-depth approach it took to teaching human rights and how it is applied in the international arena. "I gained a lot of knowledge about human rights; it helped me to start working in more legal ways for our fight against impunity in El Salvador. I can now talk about these issues with knowledge about international human rights."

After the fellowship Carlos conducted several human rights workshops at El Faro newspaper, taking the knowledge he gained while on the programme and placing it in the hands of his colleagues. He explains that as a result of the fellowship he now feels more confident and informed in applying international human rights laws throughout his work as a journalist. His approach to his work with the newspaper and his investigations has also become more "methodological".

I gained a lot of knowledge about human rights; it helped me to start working in more legal ways for our fight against impunity in El Salvador.

He has also conducted several training sessions in human rights for the members of the Salvadorean Association for Survivors of Torture. These sessions examined ways in which the members, as human rights defenders, should seek to protect themselves and work safely in an environment that is somewhat hostile to their advocacy work. Carlos explains that the workshops provided the Association with an opportunity to redevelop its organisational structure and approaches to fighting and investigating human rights violations. "I have given five workshops on human rights inside El Salvador. They have been on crimes against humanity, and international law. The latest workshop was held on June 26, 2015, on the International Day Against Torture." Overall, Carlos estimates that these workshops have had a positive impact as he has been able to educate a total of 2,000 unionists and peasants on the role that human rights plays in their country and the global arena.

The fellowship requires that the HRDs develop an independent project during their studies that could potentially be implemented in their home countries. For his project, Carlos sought to create a webpage called the Yellow Book that focuses on documenting the names of victims of injustice and state abuse. The success of this webpage has been outstanding and significant for the many still seeking some form of resolution for their loved ones affected by violence and corruption. Carlos states, "after returning to El Salvador I worked hard to put up the webpage … People outside the US go there and find their families … The web page has 50,000 hits, [the] conservative estimate would be that 25,000 actual survivors/relatives have been reached." This illustrates the important influence that the programme has on helping human rights defenders develop and implement initiatives that will make their work more visible while helping others attain justice.

The diversity embedded in the fellowship programme also exposed Carlos to many different cultures and people who share similar experiences in fighting for human rights. Carlos explained the diverse makeup of the fellows during his tenure on the programme "enriched my cultural knowledge, because I could interact with people from different parts of the world, about their experience, fights, culture. I could find similarities with my struggle. For example, disability struggles in Liberia and El Salvador involving those who had been injured in civil wars have similarities."

Carlos gladly reports that he remains in contact with many of the other HRDs he met on the programme. This experience has certainly expanded his support network and he has remained in close contact with several of the human rights organisations that he became acquainted with during his time spent in the UK. Amnesty International, Frontline Defenders and Freedom House have all remained in contact with Carlos and continue to provide him with critical support in developing the work of his organisation.

In evaluating his experience as a fellow, Carlos asserts, "Everything was very impactful … it was heaven, rest, away from being a target."

Carlos was interviewed by CAHR staff in August 2015.