SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – The government of El Salvador on Saturday sent 10,000 soldiers and police officers to cordon off a town on the outskirts of the country’s capital to search for gang members.
The operation was one of the largest mobilizations so far in President Nayib Bukele’s nine-month crackdown on street gangs, which have long extorted money from businesses and controlled many neighborhoods in the capital, San Salvador.
The troops blocked roads leading in and out of Soyapango Township and checked people’s documents. Special teams went to town to look for gang suspects.
“As of now, the community of Soyapango is completely surrounded,” Bukele wrote on his Twitter account. He posted videos showing rows of soldiers with guns.
More than 58,000 people have been detained since a state of emergency was declared in late March following a spate of killings. Rights groups have criticized the mass arrests, saying they often round up young men based on their appearance or where they live.
It was part of what Bukele called “Phase Five” of the crackdown in late November. Bukele said such tactics worked in the city of Comasagua in October.
In October, more than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded and cordoned off Comasagua looking for members of a street gang suspected of murder. Drones flew over the city and anyone entering or leaving the city was interrogated or searched. About 50 suspects were arrested in two days.
“It worked,” Bukele said. The government estimates that homicides fell by 38% in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period in 2021.
Bukele asked Congress to grant him extraordinary powers after gangs were blamed for 62 murders on March 26, and that emergency executive order has been renewed every month since. It overrides some constitutional rights and gives police more powers to arrest and detain suspects.
According to the decree, the right to organize, the right to be informed of the reason for arrest and access to a lawyer are suspended. The government can also intervene in the calls and mail of people it deems suspicious. The time someone can be held without charge will be extended from three days to 15 days.
Human rights activists say young men are often arrested simply because of their age, their looks or whether they live in a gang-dominated slum.
El Salvador’s gangs, estimated to number around 70,000 members, have long controlled large parts of the territory, extorting and killing with impunity.
But Bukele’s crackdown reached a different level earlier this month when the government sent inmates to cemeteries to destroy gang members’ graves at a time of year when families normally visit the graves of loved ones.
NGOs have counted several thousand human rights violations and at least 80 deaths in custody by people arrested during the raid.