More than sixty thousand gang members have been detained in El Salvador as part of the war launched by President Nayib Bukele against the gangs and protected by an emergency regime, the attorney general of that Central American country announced Tuesday.
“Until yesterday [lunes] there were 60,218 people [detenidas]», the official told television channel 21.
Among the detainees there are more than 400 gang members arrested after thousands of soldiers surrounded the city of Soyapango, on the outskirts of San Salvador, explained the Minister of Justice and Security, Gustavo Villatoro.
The emergency regime, which allows arrests without a warrant, was established in response to an escalation of violence that claimed the lives of 87 people between March 25 and 27.
The detainees were “forming criminal companies that aimed to co-opt the state” and engaged in “infinite criminal activities,” the prosecutor said.
«These people, in reality, are enemies of the State. No matter how hard we try, we are not going to rehabilitate them, their way of life is crime,” Delgado stressed.
Almost nine months after the emergency regime came into force, the authorities have managed to arrest 900 leaders of “clicas” (cells) and 10 of 15 members of the general command of the Mara Salvatrucha.
A newspaper poll The printing press It showed that 87.8% of Salvadorans approve of President Bukele’s management, and stressed that the “popularity spike” is due to his work on security.
The Directorate of Penal Centers is building a gigantic prison to house 40,000 gang members in a rural area of Tecoluca, in the center of the country, which should be operational at the beginning of 2023.
Before the start of this offensive, there were 16,000 gang members in El Salvador’s prisons.
