Salvador: Wave of Violence Caused by Gangs Leaves 62 Dead in One Day

The country went through one of the most violent days since 2015

The violence caused by gangs, especially the Mara Salvatrucha, has left 62 dead last Saturday and 14 on Friday, for a total of 76 in just 24 hours.

For this reason, the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, reported that a "war on the gangs" will begin to counteract the wave of violence that has recently broken out and has left a record in the red since the beginning of his term.

Similarly, he stressed that the government and the corresponding agencies are making the necessary inquiries to determine those responsible for the murders. "While we fight criminals in the streets, we try to figure out what is happening and who is behind it, financing this," he said.

Exception regime

As part of President Bukele's plan, there is the implementation of an exception regime for 30 days, which was endorsed and approved by 80% of the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, which represents 67 votes in favor. of the 84 deputies that make up the institution.

Among the restrictions that this mandate implies is freedom of association, the right to defense or the inviolability of correspondence and telecommunications. They also extend administrative detention from 72 hours to 15 days.

Since President Nayib Bukele came to power in 2019, the numbers of violence in the streets have dropped significantly, so much so that sectors of the opposition have denounced that there is a kind of pact between the gangs and the government.

Accusation that has been denied by the head of state and ensures that the effectiveness is due to the security plan.

For this reason, in 2020 the Salvador Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation to determine if the complaints against the president are true, as happened in 2012, when Mauricio Funes was in charge of the Central American country.