They brutally slaughtered innocent people and took the lives of at least 87 people. But their atrocities do not go unpunished. About a week after the mass murders, the government struck a blow against organized gang crime in El Salvador.
San Salvador – After 87 innocent people were murdered in just a few days at the end of March, Bukele declared a state of emergency overriding some constitutional rights, approved the means for quick arrests. The decision gives the government special powers by relaxing detention rules for 30 days and leaving more than 5,000 people in detention.
More than 6,000 gang members were arrested in the first nine days after the state of emergency was declared, said President Nayib Bukele, 40, after imposing the measures to combat a rising wave of killings.
This added 6,000 more gang members to the 17,000 already arrested. The problem: After the great arrest success, the government now fears a wave of revenge from the criminals.
Should there actually be acts of revenge, the President is prepared. At a graduation ceremony for aspiring police officers and soldiers, Bukele threatened to cut off food supplies for imprisoned gang members.
“There are rumors that they (gangs, editor’s note) want to start taking revenge on randomly selected, honest people,” Bukele said last Tuesday.
“If they do that, there won’t even be a meal in the prisons. I swear to god they won’t eat a grain of rice – let’s see how long they last.”
Instead of planning or even carrying out an act of revenge, according to the president, the gangsters should “stay calm and allow themselves to be arrested. Because at least inside they will live on and receive two meals a day.”
Earlier, Bukele ordered that food for gang members held in Salvadoran jails should be reduced to two meals a day, inmates’ mattresses confiscated and a video of prisoners marching down corridors and stairs released.
Criticism of human rights organizations
The declaration of the state of emergency and the measures that followed were criticized by human rights organizations around the world immediately after it was implemented. The reason: They are the first step for potential human rights violations.
In March, President Bukele released a video showing guards with batons roughly forcing inmates to walk, run and even go down stairs. In one sequence, a handcuffed inmate fell down a flight of stairs when a guard forced him to run down. The prisoner groaned and was then forced to keep walking.
United Nations human rights spokesperson Liz Throssell said: “We are deeply concerned by the series of measures recently introduced in El Salvador in response to the rise in gang killings. 5,747 people were arrested without warrants and some were reportedly subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Criticism that falls on deaf ears with the president: “I don’t care what the international organizations say. Let them come here and protect our people. They can take their gang members with them if they want; we give them all,” he said cynically.
That means the state of emergency in El Salvador
The state of emergency is accompanied by a restriction of civil rights and a simultaneous increase in power for the police. Among other things, this makes arrests possible without an arrest warrant, freedom of assembly and the confidentiality of communication are restricted. After the parliamentary decision, police officers with assault rifles and bulletproof vests patrolled the streets.
The state of emergency now applies to the entire national territory and was imposed “due to serious disturbances of public order by criminal gangs”.
El Salvador’s Congress has also increased penalties for crimes committed by gang members. The country’s notorious street gangs effectively control many neighborhoods in the capital.
Police and soldiers have cordoned off neighborhoods, searching house by house for gang members, and controlling who enters and exits areas.