El Salvador’s government reports that it has arrested more than 140 suspected gang members in Soyapango in less than two days. The city has been surrounded by ten thousand soldiers and agents since Saturday and is therefore completely cut off from the outside world.
The action is part of President Nayib Bukele’s tough policy against gang violence in the Central American country. Bukele himself reports the 140 arrests on Twitter and claims that the government is in control of the entire area.
The ten thousand soldiers and agents searched all the houses in Soyapango. Soyapango is a suburb of the capital San Salvador. It is the most densely populated region in the country.
Despite the arrests, the siege of Soyapango is not over. Authorities have not said how long the encirclement of the city will last. “We will not leave Soyapango until we have captured the last member of the gang,” promised Defense Minister René Merino.
President Bukele declared a state of emergency in El Salvador in March to curb gang violence. Since then, 58,000 people have been arrested. The country had nearly 1,150 homicides in 2021, or 18 homicides per 100,000 population.
The drastic approach has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations and the United Nations. Salvadoran media report that arbitrary arrests are made on a regular basis.
According to polls in the country, the majority of the population supports Bukele’s approach. But those polls are not reliable. In El Salvador, freedom of the press is under great pressure. Additionally, Salvadoran politics is notorious for corruption and propaganda.
