PanamaTimes

Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

El Salvador anti-gang measures 'a success' as 17,000 held

El Salvador anti-gang measures 'a success' as 17,000 held

El Salvador's defense minister has praised the extension by Congress of emergency measures which he says are having a "positive" effect in the battle against rampant gang violence.
René Merino said that more than 17,000 suspected gang members had been arrested since the state of emergency was declared a month ago.

On Sunday, Congress extended the measure by another 30 days. It came into force on March 27 after 62 people were murdered in one day.

The emergency measures have been controversial as they limit some constitutional rights, such as allowing the security forces to arrest suspects without a warrant.

The sentences for convicted gang members have also been raised to a maximum of 45 years in jail.

Defense Minister Merino said that crimes such as extortion had dropped since the emergency measures were introduced.

"The aim is to make these gangs disappear altogether from El Salvador," he said in a televised statement.

He added that "the honest population is very satisfied with the work we're doing against the gangs" but did not say if any polls had been carried out which supported his statement.

Rights advocates have been highly critical of the mass arrests carried out in the past month.

The UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned earlier this month that thousands of Salvadorans had been detained without an arrest warrant and that some had reported being subjected to "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment".

OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said that changes to El Salvador's criminal procedure also meant that "criminal trials could now be held in absentia, in the case of alleged gang members, or presided over by so-called 'faceless; judges whose identity remained 'confidential'".

Merino said on Monday that those arrested who were found to have no links to gangs would be freed.

"This is going to keep happening, that we stop someone, we question that person and then we notice that the person has no links [to gangs] and then we set that person free."

"The people need to know that if they're not involved in anything bad, nothing bad will happen to them," Merino said.

But rights group Human Rights Watch has condemned tweets by the Salvadoran police which showed suspects being arrested and said that the government's strategy "seems to be 'first arrest, then tweet, and investigate later'".

Homicide figures had been dropping since Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019. The 40-year-old campaigned on a promise to tackle rampant gang violence and political corruption.

In 2021, El Salvador registered 1,140 murders, compared to a high of 6,656 in 2015.

But there has been a rise in homicides since the beginning of this year, with March 26 standing out as having been the most deadly day in decades.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
×