Christmas Eve in El Salvador began with a military operation against drug traffickers as part of the country’s controversial effort to dismantle criminal gangs.
More than 1,000 soldiers and 130 police surrounded a district of the capital, the second such operation in a month in the violence-plagued Central American country. As of this morning, the Tutunicapa district “is completely blocked,” Salvadoran President Naguib Bukele said on Twitter.
On December 3 the military mobilized nearly 10,000 men in the city of Soyapango where about 500 gang members were arrested, authorities said.
Six “criminals” have been arrested in Tutunitsapa so far, the government said, without specifying whether they were gang members or people involved in the drug trade.
“All terrorists, drug traffickers and gang members will be driven out of the district which until a few months ago was a stronghold of crime. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear and can continue their lives as normal,” the president said in another post.
Bukele’s government has drastically reduced the number of homicides in the country, but non-profit organizations accuse it of “abuses” in its operations against gangs. Since last March, more than 60,000 people have been arrested on suspicion of being associated with criminal organizations.
Source: News Beast
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