Relatives of arrested gang members are demanding their release at a protest in the capital, San Salvador.
(dpa) El Salvador extradited two suspected members of a violent youth gang to the United States. “We thank the government of El Salvador for the step forward that these extraditions represent,” US Secretary of State Brian Nichols wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Despite his so-called war on the gangs, President Nayib Bukele’s government has so far shown little willingness to respond to US extradition requests.
The two members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) are said to be responsible for manslaughter, organized crime, conspiracy and drug trafficking before American courts. The MS-13 is one of two crime syndicates responsible for most of the violent crime in the Central American country. The gangster group was founded in the USA in the 1980s by Salvadoran migrants. The gang is also still active in the United States.
After a wave of murders that killed 62 people in just one day, Bukele’s government declared a state of emergency at the end of March to fight the gangs. A number of fundamental rights were suspended as a result. The measure has already been extended several times by Parliament. To date, almost 49,000 suspected gang members have been arrested.