States must ensure human rights defenders are able to carry out their activities safely by developing effective protection programmes, or by improving existing ones, as well as ensuring that those suspected of attacking activists are brought to justice. ARBITRARY DETENTION AND UNFAIR TRIALS Arbitrary detention remained widespread across the region. Authorities continued to violate people’s rights to liberty, a fair trial and physical integrity in countries including Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In the USA, many detentions had discriminatory undertones. In El Salvador, more than 73,000 arbitrary detentions had been recorded since the start of the state of emergency in March 2022. Most detainees were accused of “illegal associations”, a crime linked to gang activity and membership. These detentions violated due process guarantees through the absence of judicial orders and the concealment of the identity of the judges processing detainees. In countries including El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, detainees were often tortured or ill-treated, and in some cases forcibly disappeared. In Venezuela, there were around 15,700 arbitrary arrests between 2014 and 2023, and around 280 people remained in detention for political reasons, according to civil society organizations. Student activist and musician, John Álvarez, was detained on 30 August and was held incommunicado for over 24 hours. He was tortured and forced to incriminate a union leader and a journalist in a video recorded by police officers. He was released in December. Fair trial rights were not respected in a number of countries including Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the USA and Venezuela. Thirty Muslim men remained arbitrarily and indefinitely detained in the detention facility at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in violation of international law. The men continued to be denied hearings despite the US Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that they have a right to habeas corpus. Authorities must guarantee rights to a fair trial and refrain from misusing the justice system. States must fulfil the right to reparation of those who have suffered arbitrary detention. EXCESSIVE AND UNNECESSARY USE OF FORCE Excessive and unnecessary use of force by law enforcement, including lethal force, permeated the region, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and the USA. In many cases, force was used disproportionately with a racist bias. In Brazil, at least 394 people were killed in police operations in the states of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo between July and September, as the government continued to disregard measures to reduce police violence, including the use of body cameras. In the USA, at least 1,153 people were killed by police in 2023, according to media sources. In Peru, the state responded to protests across the country by using lethal force and excessively using less-than-lethal force, with a racist bias particularly targeting Indigenous Peoples. The number of deaths during the protests amounted to 49 civilians and one police officer, and hundreds of people injured, in under two months. At least 20 of those cases could be considered extrajudicial executions. Police reform advanced with mixed results in Chile and Colombia. Authorities in Colombia introduced regulatory initiatives to change the structure and operation of some aspects of the police force, including a new manual on the use of force during protests. Comprehensive police reform was still pending. The State of the World’s Human Rights 35