(San Salvador) More than 55,000 suspected members of criminal gangs, the dreaded “maras”, have been arrested in El Salvador since President Nayib Bukele declared a “war” at the end of March against these gangs which reign terror in the country, authorities said on Friday.
Updated at 0:28
These arrests are in addition to the 16,000 already made before the state of emergency, the extension of which, requested by the government, was approved on Friday evening by a favorable vote of the Salvadoran Congress.
Established at the end of March after a wave of 87 assassinations attributed to the “maras”, this allows arrests without a warrant, raising criticism from human rights organizations.
“This war (against organized crime), we are winning it and we will continue to deploy thousands of police and soldiers every day to stop these terrorists,” said the Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro facing the deputies, before the vote on the extension of the state of exception.
“We will continue our efforts until the last criminal is behind bars,” added Defense Minister René Francis Merino.
Since the beginning of the “war” against these criminal gangs, especially Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, police and soldiers have also seized 1,644 firearms, 2,026 vehicles, 12,842 cell phones and 1.2 million dollars, detailed the Minister of Justice.
To cope with this influx of detainees, the prison administration has undertaken to build a gigantic prison for 40,000 suspected criminals in Tecoluca, a rural region in the center of the country. The detention center should be delivered by the end of the year, according to the authorities.