With an iron hand, Nayib Bukele is pushing down the murder rates in the Central American country. The price for this: a permanent state of emergency and the omnipotence of the security forces.
El Salvador’s president wants to break gang rule by mobilizing the security forces.
Last weekend, 8,500 soldiers and 1,500 police officers combed the city of Soyapango in the greater San Salvador area. The security forces advanced with armored vehicles and surveillance drones. According to their own statements, they arrested 140 pandilleros, young gangsters who belong to criminal gangs, so-called maras. Their business model consists of extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking.