More than 1,000 soldiers cordoned off a San Salvador neighborhood on Saturday as part of President Najib Bukele’s war on gangs, the second such operation in a month in this violence-torn Central American country.
Since Saturday morning, the Totonisapa region has been “completely” cordoned off, El Salvador’s president wrote on Twitter. He said that “more than a thousand soldiers and 130 policemen will arrest criminals” in this area “notorious for drug trafficking”.
And on Dec. 3, the army massed some 10,000 troops in the town of Soyapango, adjacent to San Salvador, where some 500 suspected gang members were arrested, according to the latest government tally.
In Totonishaba, the authorities announced that they had made the first six arrests of criminals, without specifying whether they were members of gangs or involved in drug trafficking.
Najib Bukila said in another tweet that all terrorists, drug dealers and gangsters will be expelled from this neighborhood, which was a crime hotspot until a few months ago. Honest citizens have nothing to fear and can continue with their normal lives.
On March 27, Congress, at the request of the President of El Salvador, decreed an emergency regime to combat the escalation of gang violence.
This war on gangs has led to the arrest of more than 60,000 people since March for alleged links to criminal organizations, according to official figures.
