(San Salvador) Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 9,000 suspected gang members in the past two weeks, President Nayib Bukele announced on Sunday, as part of a state of emergency he imposed after an outbreak of homicides that left 87 dead from March 25 to 27.
Posted at 9:51 p.m.
“Over 9,000 gang members [arrêtés] in just 15 days. We continue the war against the gangs, ”said the president on Twitter, criticized by local and international humanitarian organizations for alleged human rights violations.
The police, for their part, said that since the start of the “war on gangs”, they have put 9,120 suspected criminals behind bars.
This is the first time in twenty years that El Salvador has arrested thousands of suspected criminals in such a short period of time.
The country’s authorities are currently leading an offensive against the “maras”, gangs living off drug trafficking and extortion, responsible for a recent wave of murders across the country.
Parliament has passed laws increasing the maximum penalty for gang membership fivefold (from nine to 45 years in prison) and punishing the dissemination of gang messages in the media by up to 15 years in prison.
After a series of 87 murders attributed to gangs between March 25 and 27, parliament had approved the establishment of a state of emergency.
The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Barrio 18 and other gangs have some 70,000 members, according to authorities. In March, 16,000 of them were in prison, but with the latest arrests, this figure is currently over 25,000 incarcerated.
In 2021, El Salvador recorded 1,147 homicides, or 18 per 100,000 inhabitants.