(San Salvador) Armed with rifles, helmets and wearing bullet-proof vests, some 4,000 soldiers and police partially surrounded two towns near the capital on Wednesday with the aim of capturing members of the criminal gangs against whom President Nayib Bukele is fighting. ” war “.
“Since early this morning, 3,500 soldiers and 500 police officers have set up three security perimeters” in the towns of Apopa and Soyapango, Mr. Bukele said on social networks.
Soldiers guard access points to cordoned off neighborhoods, while police go from house to house, carrying out identity checks.
The country’s two main gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, operate in both cities. In the neighborhoods, everyone knows their members, generally identified by tattoos.
PHOTO JOSE CABEZAS, REUTERS
Soldiers intercept a man to check his identity.
President Bukele said the operation, similar to others carried out over the past two months in other cities, is part of the plan implemented since 2019 to put gang members behind bars.
Defense Minister René Francis Merino indicated that the deployment of armed forces “responds to a call from the population that certain gang members are trying to reorganize” in the area.
“We will not stop until we capture the last of the terrorists (gang members). We will not allow small groups to form and deprive us of the peace that it cost us so much to achieve,” assured Mr. Bukele.
In response to an outbreak of violence in March 2022 which left 87 dead in less than a week, President Bukele launched a “war” against gangs by declaring a state of emergency, a measure criticized by gang organizations. defense of human rights. Since then, some 73,000 suspected gangsters have been arrested.
At the beginning of August, President Bukele declared a state of military and police siege throughout the central department of Cabañas, marking a new stage in his “war” against gangs.