Tell John Legend to cancel his appearance in Miss Universe; avoid promoting a dictator.

Why is Musical Star and Social Justice Advocate John Legend Helping to Promote a Cover-up by a Brutal Dictator in El Salvador?

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As Salvadorans in the United States and around the world who admire John Legend’s talent and dedication to fight social injustice, we were quite shocked to learn that Mr. Legend is lending his talent and reputation to promote a dictator who runs the most brutal incarceration system in the Western Hemisphere.

This year’s Miss Universe event has been bought and paid for with State funds of our impoverished nation by President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. In the last four years, Bukele has illegally gained control over all branches of government and now runs an undemocratic, militarized dictatorship in El Salvador, where human rights, the rule of law, judicial due process and checks and balances no longer exist. Furthermore, Bukele is now seeking reelection in violation of the Salvadoran Constitution’s strict term limits. The purchase of the Miss Universe event with public funds is part of the Bukele regime’s strategy to develop a cult of personality around Bukele, sustained by a massive, state-funded propaganda apparatus which is also used to attack critics, journalists, and those who dare to speak the truth.

Mr. Legend’s participation is particularly troubling in light of his long-term activism to reduce incarceration rates and for criminal justice reform in the US. Given the powerful propaganda apparatus of the Bukele regime, Mr. Legend and his managers may not be aware that in El Salvador, Bukele has established an illegal “State of Exception” which suspends fundamental civil and human rights of all citizens. Over 80,000 individuals have been detained without due process, hundreds have been murdered and brutalized inside the prison system without ever having been convicted of a crime, and thousands remain disappeared from their families and communities. Countless families have been devastated by this massive incarceration regime. Women—already vulnerable in a country with some of the most draconian anti-women policies and anti-LGBTQ rights legal systems in the continent—are carrying the heaviest burden of care for their broken communities. Many have been forced to give birth in inhumane conditions in the prison system.

Mr. Legend has argued that the US criminal justice system is outdated and in need of reform; it disproportionately punishes and over-incarcerates people of color. In El Salvador, the judicial system has been manipulated to target the poor, the vulnerable, and the perceived opponents of the Bukele regime. Bukele and his cronies constantly boast and celebrate the extremely high imprisonment rates and the construction of the largest prison facility in our continent.

Already, Miss Universe contestants arriving in the country are being toured around an assortment of Potemkin-style sites, where poor communities are being displaced and vendors dependent on the informal street-economy are removed to locations away from the media blitz orchestrated by the Bukele regime. Mr. Legend’s performance will be the highlight of this charade.

This is not the first time that the Miss Universe contest is used to cover up the economic devastation and human-rights abuses of repressive military regimes in El Salvador. In 1975, the fraudulent military government of Coronel Arturo Armando Molina also used the Miss Universe contest to sell El Salvador as “El País de la Sonrisa” (the country of smiles) while at the same time massacring students on the streets that protested against the repression and the use of public funds on a beauty contest in a country with high levels of exclusion and poverty.

For all of the above facts, we respectfully ask Mr. Legend to cancel his participation and performance from this event. We invite him to join the Salvadoran and international community in advocating for an end to human rights abuses including state-repression of marginalized communities, environmental activists, and human rights defenders in El Salvador. Don't let history repeat.

Supporters:
AMATE El Salvador (El Salvador)
Associazione Culturale “Inca Peru” (Italia)
Bloque de Resistencia y Rebeldía Popular (El Salvador)
Centro Latino Cuscatlán (USA)
Colectivo de Psicologues por la Abolición y Liberación (USA)
Comité de Solidaridad con El Salvador en México (México)
Diasporic Salvis (USA)
Frente Intercontinental ventana de la lucha popular salvadoreña (Internatonal)
Jaraguá Migrante (USA)
Kolectivo San Jacinto (El Salvador)
Los siempre sospechosos de todo (USA)
Nación Salvadoreña en el Exterior (Global)
MOVIR (El Salvador)
Periodistas Independientes de El Salvador (El Salvador)
PIPILES (USA)
RENASE (USA)
Resistencia Comunitaria (USA)
Salvadoregnos en Napoli (Italy)
Scanner Politico (USA)
Sportello Migranti 49 (Italy)