El Salvador authorities have arrested more than 30,000 gang members since President Najib Boukele declared a “war” in late March on those criminal gangs accused of inciting terrorism through murder and extortion, police said today.
“Yesterday, Sunday, May 15, 536 terrorists were arrested, fifty days after the start of the state of emergency. The total number of arrests since the start of the war against gangs is 30,506,” police said on their Twitter account.
The government’s offensive campaign against the gangs began after the massacre of 87 people within two days in late March, for which the authorities blame these criminal groups.
At the request of the head of state, Parliament ordered an emergency regime that allows imprisonment without a court order and toughening sentences for gang members up to 45 years in prison.
This status was extended for 30 days at the end of April. It also restricts freedom of assembly and defense rights, extends police detention and allows wiretapping.
The criminal gangs, the most violent of which are La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, have about 70,000 members, according to authorities.
Now, counting the recent arrests, 46,000 of them are in jail, according to authorities, a number unprecedented for 30 years in this country of 6.5 million people in Central America.
Human rights groups have reported the arrest of several youths unrelated to gangs.
Salvador’s vice president Felich Uloa defended the government’s attack on the gangs before representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on May 5.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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