美国国家公共电台 NPR--El Salvador is about to enter its 11th month of limited constitutional rights

El Salvador is about to enter its 11th month of limited constitutional rights

Transcript¹

El Salvador's brutal² crackdown on gangs has led to thousands of arbitrary detentions³ and the militarization of the streets.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

El Salvador is about to enter its 11th month under what the government calls a state of exception. That means the government has suspended certain constitutional guarantees in an effort to fight criminal gangs. NPR's Eyder Peralta has been reporting in El Salvador, and he joins us now from the capital, San Salvador. Good morning, Eyder.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So tell us how we got here.

PERALTA: Yeah. Nayib Bukele became president in El Salvador in the summer of 2019. At the time, he was the youngest president in Latin America, and he tried a truce⁵ with the gangs that had dominated much of this country. But in March of last year, gangs killed 80 people in a single weekend, and President Bukele responded with overwhelming force. He deployed⁶ the military, and so far, according to the government, they have arrested more than 60,000 people. By some estimates, that is about 2% of the adult population here.

FADEL: Wow. That's a lot of people.

PERALTA: Yeah.

FADEL: Now, you've been out reporting in the country. What does it feel like?

PERALTA: There's troops everywhere. Some neighborhoods are literally⁷ surrounded by military men. Outside of the prisons, we've seen mothers looking for their sons who they say are innocent. We've seen a lot of empty neighborhoods. Some that used to be bustling⁸ are now eerily⁹ quiet. I spoke¹⁰ to El Salvador's justice minister, Gustavo Villatoro, and he was emphatic¹¹ that this is the only way to end the violence that has plagued this country for so long. And he was emphatic that a lot of the people who are in jail will remain there. Let's listen.

GUSTAVO VILLATORO: A big part of the Black Brotherhood¹² - it's against society. For them, we have just one way - put all of them in prison forever.

FADEL: Putting all of them in prison forever - a pretty extreme approach, it appears. One of the reasons so many Salvadorans leave their country is violence, though. Is this approach working? Is it popular?

PERALTA: The easy answer is yes, it's working. Yes, it's popular. People here say that the murders that they used to see every day have stopped. In some of the neighborhoods that we've been in, people joked that you used to get in, but you never got out. But human rights groups say that this approach is simply cruel, and that we don't know what the government's true intentions are. For example, the U.S. has accused one of President Bukele's top advisers¹³ of paying gangs for political favors. And El Faro, an investigative outfit¹⁴ here, has published pictures of him meeting with top gang leaders. I asked the justice minister about this. I asked him why somebody like Carlos Marroquin wasn't in jail when everyone else suspected of dealing¹⁵ with gangs was.

FADEL: Yeah.

VILLATORO: Here in El Salvador, we have a lot of people who are trying to create some type of tales about different people who work for the president. We are fighting against terrorists. So what those periodists (ph) try to create - what is the truth about their stories?

PERALTA: But look, it's not just the journalists here in El Salvador. It's the US government - right? - that has said it in black and white. And they have...

VILLATORO: Paid by whom? Paid by whom? Who paid those periodists?

PERALTA: So you're saying those allegations are not true.

VILLATORO: No, they are trying...

PERALTA: But there's audio.

VILLATORO: ...to destroy...

PERALTA: There's images of...

VILLATORO: Look, in...

PERALTA: ...This man with the maras.

VILLATORO: Yeah. Yeah. You know, OK, you're right. But in now, nowadays, I can create audio with your voice.

PERALTA: Essentially¹⁶, he's claiming fake news, but these things raise questions about whether the government is cutting deals that they're not telling anyone about.

PERALTA: NPR's Eyder Peralta reporting from San Salvador. Thank you so much, Eyder.

PERALTA: Thank you, Leila.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

9 eerily   

adv.引起神秘感或害怕地

参考例句：

• It was nearly mid-night and eerily dark all around her. 夜深了，到处是一片黑黝黝的怪影。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The vast volcanic slope was eerily reminiscent of a lunar landscape. 开阔的火山坡让人心生怪异地联想起月球的地貌。 来自辞典例句

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 emphatic   

adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的

参考例句：

• Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决，不容有任何人怀疑。
• He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。

12 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

13 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

14 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

15 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。