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After a wave of murders, El Salvador decrees a state of emergency. They capture 5 leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha

2022-03-27T20:29:30.683Z


Congress approved the measure at the request of the president, Nayib Bukele. "Has the opposition come out to defend the gang members?" asked the president. Some constitutional guarantees are suspended for 30 days.


The Salvadoran Congress decreed on Sunday, at the request of the president, Nayib Bukele, a state of emergency to combat

a wave of gang-related murders over the weekend.

On Friday, 14 homicides were recorded, according to official figures, while Saturday became

the most violent day so far this year with 62 homicides

in 12 of the country's 14 departments, a level of violence that had not been seen in several years.

In the entire month of February 2022, 79 homicides were recorded, according to official figures.


Police guard the scene of a murder today in the municipality of Colón (El Salvador). Rodrigo Sura / EFE

The National Civil Police (PNC) reported

the capture of at least five leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)

, whom they point to as those responsible for ordering the murders that have worried El Salvador since Friday.

According to the Constitution, the state of emergency is established in cases of war, invasion of territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic and other general calamity or serious disturbance of public order.

[They criticize the ruling that allows immediate re-election in El Salvador, what does it mean for Bukele?]

With the state of emergency

, the constitutional guarantees

of freedom of association, the right to defense, the term of administrative detention and the inviolability of correspondence and telecommunications are suspended.

This suspension does not affect freedom of expression or free movement.

The measure

will last 30 days

, although “if the circumstances that motivated it continue”, it may be extended for another 30 days.

Bukele announced her request on his social media accounts and challenged those who opposed the move.

“Has the opposition come out to defend the gang members yet?” she asked.

The parliamentary group of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) attacked the Bukele government for requesting the emergency regime and accused him of protecting the gang leaders from an extradition requested by the United States.

“It is necessary to remind the Salvadoran people that what we are experiencing now is the negligence of the one who protected criminals,” they pointed out.

[This small town eradicated violence in one of the most dangerous countries in Central America]

The decision on the extraditions of criminals requested by other countries corresponds to the Supreme Court of Justice.

Although Bukele has tried to portray himself as tough on crime, the country's powerful gangs have proven to be a double-edged sword for him.

Secret gang deal indictment

The US Treasury said in December that the Bukele government had

secretly negotiated a truce with gang leaders

.

That contradicted Bukele's claims and increased tension between the two countries.

The United States government alleges that Bukele bought the support of the gangs with financial benefits and privileges for their leaders in prison, such as access to prostitutes and cell phones.

The controversial accusations hit one of the successes that Bukele most proclaims of his mandate, the decrease in the country's homicide rate.

[Two brothers, ages 19 and 20, disappeared for months are buried in El Salvador]

Controversy in El Salvador over reports of negotiations between Bukele and the main gangs

Aug. 25, 202101:58

The president responded to the accusations with a sarcastic tweet.

Cell phones and prostitutes in prisons?

Money to the gangs?

When I pass that?

They didn't even check the date?

How can they put up such an obvious lie without anyone questioning them?” he wrote.

The president pointed out that this would have happened during the government of former president Mauricio Funes of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), when he made an agreement with the gangs.

Bukele vehemently rejected the accusations when they were reported in August 2020 by local outlet El Faro.

The Treasury statement stated that in 2020, the Bukele government “provided financial incentives for the Salvadoran gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18 to ensure that incidents of gang violence and the number of confirmed homicides remained low.”

“During these negotiations (...) the gang leaders also agreed to provide political support to the Nuevas Ideas political party in the upcoming elections,” he added.

Despite these remarks,

Bukele is enormously popular

.

He occupied a gap in the political spectrum before the discredit of the traditional parties of the left and right.

Bukele's New Ideas party has a majority in the Salvadoran assembly.

Tension between the US and El Salvador

The revelations increased the tension between Bukele and the Government of Joe Biden.

After El Salvador's new congress removed the attorney general and judges from the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court in May, the US government expressed concern about the direction of the country.

The United States Agency for International Development announced that it would divert its aid to official agencies in El Salvador to non-governmental organizations.

El Salvador's new justice secretary announced in June that the government would cancel the Organization of American States' anti-corruption mission in the Central American country.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-03-27

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