President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced on Saturday that his government deployed 2,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers armed with rifles in five neighborhoods of the city of Apopa (north), in search of gang remnants. “After several citizen complaints, we have just installed a security perimeter in the Tikal 1, 2 and 3, Valle del Sol and La Chintuc neighborhoods in Apopa,” the president said on his account on the social network X.
Bukele said on X that 2,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers were deployed, and shared video images of uniformed personnel walking the streets armed with rifles and wearing bulletproof vests.
On foot or in police cars, the soldiers and police officers entered the five neighborhoods, where they set up vehicle checkpoints at the entrances of streets and alleys.
Apopa is a city of 131,000 inhabitants located 13 km north of San Salvador that has had a strong presence of the violent gangs Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18.
The police confirmed on X that the operation has already resulted in the arrest of four Barrio 18 gang members. For more than two years, a state of emergency ordered by President Bukele has been in effect in El Salvador, with which a “war” against gangs is being waged.
Bukele declared the offensive against gangs on March 27, 2022, after an escalation of 87 homicides in one weekend, under the protection of the controversial state of emergency that allows arrests without a court order.
Since the beginning of this offensive, a little over 80,000 alleged gang members have been arrested, according to the authorities. However, human rights groups maintain that among those detained there are many innocent people and that the human rights “crisis” may “perpetuate” in the country.
This offensive against gangs has brought tranquility back to the streets, and this has increased Bukele’s popularity, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in February.
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