SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s president on Tuesday threatened to cut off food supplies for jailed gang members as he continued his crackdown on a spate of killings that led to a state of emergency and the implementation of measures that have been internationally condemned.
At a graduation ceremony for new police officers and soldiers, President Nayib Bukele said if the gangs “start a crime wave, we will cut the food in the prisons”.
“There are rumors that they (gangs) want to start taking revenge on random, honest people,” Bukele said. “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 and see how long they last.”
“You should remain calm and allow yourself to be arrested; at least inside they will live on and eat two meals a day,” Bukele said.
Earlier, Bukele ordered that food for gang members held in Salvadoran jails be reduced to two meals a day, confiscated inmates’ mattresses and released a video of prisoners being marched down corridors and stairways.
Following a spate of killings in late March, Bukele declared a state of emergency, overriding some constitutional rights and arresting some 6,000 street gang members.
The President also ordered the construction of a new maximum security prison for 20,000 inmates.
The move has been criticized by human rights organizations in El Salvador and abroad, which warn that suspending fundamental rights could open the floodgates to human rights abuses. El Salvador’s Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office said it had received 67 human rights complaints, including 33 alleging arbitrary detention.
United Nations human rights spokesperson Liz Throssell said on Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned by the series of measures recently introduced in El Salvador in response to the rise in gang killings.”
Throssell said: “5,747 people were arrested without warrants and some were reportedly subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
The story goes on
As usual, Bukele brushed aside criticism.
“I don’t care what the international organizations say. Let them come here and protect our people,” the President said. “They can take their gang members with them if they want; we give them all.”
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.
The state of emergency restricts freedom of assembly, the right to be informed of your rights in the event of an arrest and access to a lawyer. The government also extended the time someone can be held without charge from 72 hours to 15 days and allowed authorities to intercept suspects’ communications without a judge’s approval.
Police and soldiers have cordoned off neighborhoods, searching house by house for gang members, and controlling who enters and exits areas.
In March, Bukele released a video showing guards with batons roughly forcing inmates to walk, run and even go down stairs with their arms behind their necks or backs.
Once, a handcuffed inmate fell down a flight of stairs when a guard forced him to run down the stairs. The prisoner groaned and was then forced to keep walking.
Inmates were stripped down to their underwear and their mattresses were taken away.
Bukele is extremely popular. He stepped into a political vacuum left by discredited traditional parties from left and right.