(San Salvador) More than 1,000 soldiers surrounded a neighborhood of San Salvador on Saturday as part of President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs, the second such operation in a month in the Central American country plagued by violence.
Since Saturday morning, the Tutunichapa district “is completely cordoned off”, wrote the President of El Salvador on Twitter. “More than 1,000 soldiers and 130 police will extract the criminals” from this area “notorious for drug trafficking”, he added.
On December 3, the army had already mobilized nearly 10,000 soldiers in the town of Soyapango, bordering San Salvador, where around 500 suspected gang members were arrested, according to the latest government report.
In Tutunichapa, the authorities announced that they had made the first six arrests of “criminals”, without specifying whether they were gang members or people involved in drug trafficking.
“All terrorists, drug dealers and gang members will be expelled from this area, which until a few months ago was a bastion of crime. Honest citizens have nothing to fear and can continue to lead their lives as normal,” Nayib Bukele said in another tweet.
On March 27, following a request from the President of El Salvador, Congress decreed an emergency regime to combat an upsurge in violence caused by gangs.
This war on gangs has led to the arrest of more than 60,000 people since March for alleged links to criminal organizations, according to official figures.