Bukele deploys the National Civil Police and the Armed Forces in El Salvador due to the increase in homicides

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 06:40 GMT

“They have failed in all their plans. They will also fail in this one. God with us,” said the Salvadoran president.

The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, ordered on Wednesday night the deployment of the National Civil Police (PNC) and the Armed Forces (FAES) to contain violence in areas where violent deaths have recently been registered.

“I have ordered incursions by the National Civil Police and the Armed Forces in the places where homicides were registered yesterday and today. We know that there are dark forces that are working for us to return to the past, but this Government is not going to allow it,” he said. asserted the agent. “They have failed in all their plans. They will also fail in this one. God with us,” he added.

In the midst of the national deployment, the agents confront criminal structures, carry out searches in homes, carry out vehicle controls and carry out a series of operational actions throughout the country to find the whereabouts of criminals and capture those responsible. of homicides.

In the last 48 hours, 29 homicides have been reported in El Salvador, according to PNC data. In many cases they were “gang members and collaborators who lost their lives due to rivalries and internal fights.”

As part of the operation, the agents have arrested some members of the MS-13, Barrio 18-Sureños and Barrio 18-Revolucionario gangs.

“In previous governments it was normal to see more than 30 homicides a day, we are not going to allow criminals to continue causing distress to the Salvadoran population,” reported the Communications Secretariat of the country’s Presidency through a statement.

Maras continue to be the main threat to security in El Salvador. Of every 10 gang members arrested in 2020, six belonged to the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. Poverty, inequality and social exclusion turn Salvadoran youth into cannon fodder for these criminal groups, which provide them with an opportunity that later pay dearly.

Today, the maras are a macrostructure that adopts characteristics of other criminal or terrorist networks – such as the extortion of the Italian mafia, the hierarchy of the Yakuza or the feeling of loyalty of the jihadists – and that supposes a superbusiness. On the street, this translates into extortion, robbery, violence and blackmail that keep the country in suspense and ultimately lead to tragic outcomes.

However, the gang members themselves have denounced that the Police have carried out extrajudicial executions —Information that was confirmed by the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office— and that “it has become an extermination group” that “violates rights” and commits murders that “disguise clashes.”