El Salvador extends anti-gang state of emergency for another month

SAN SALVADOR: El Salvador extended its state of emergency for another 30 days on Wednesday to maintain President Nayib Bukele’s “war” on gang violence.

The emergency rule, renewed for a 12th time, came into effect last year and has led to about 66,000 arrests in the Central American nation.

But human rights groups have criticized the measure, which authorizes warrantless arrests.

“The initiative of the president of the republic was approved by the Council of Ministers to extend the emergency regime throughout the national territory for a period of 30 days,” said Ernesto Castro, president of the Legislative Assembly.

The “war against gangs conducted by the government has allowed the Salvadoran population to feel a sense of security,” the text of the legislative decree reads.

Bukele has said about 80 percent of El Salvador is under the control of criminal gangs, with the state of emergency introduced last year after a wave of murders attributed to the violent groups.

According to official figures, the crackdown on violent gangs has already led to 65,795 arrests, and 2,513 firearms have been seized.

In January, Humans Rights Watch denounced “severe prison overcrowding” in El Salvador’s jails as a result of such arrests.

Bukele unveiled what he called the largest prison in the Americas in February, intended to hold 40,000 suspected gang members — more than doubling the country’s current total capacity of 30,000 inmates across 20 prisons.

A second contingent of 2,000 suspected gangsters was sent to the facility on Wednesday, which has been equipped with high-tech surveillance.

Conditions on the inside will be particularly severe and ripe for overcrowding, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) team found during a visit before the first inmates arrived.