Over 2,000 Salvadoran Soldiers Fence Off Neighborhood in Gang Crackdown

Date:

More than 2,000 soldiers and 500 police officers surrounded a populous neighborhood on the outskirts of El Salvador’s capital on Monday in an effort to quash the remnants of gangs the president said were trying to set up shop in the area.

“There is a group of gang members in hiding. We have established a security fence throughout the neighborhood… to extract every last gang member in the area,” wrote Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in a post on X.

Police surrounded the San Marcos neighborhood with a military fence, setting up checkpoints to prevent gang members from escaping, said Defense Minister René Francis Merino Monroy.

The fence was the third of its kind to be installed in parts of San Salvador intended to find and arrest gang members still operating in the country. In March, Bukele ordered similar barricades to be put up in a northern part of the country, which he said was to dismantle a faction of the Barrio 18 gang.

The blockade is the latest in the populist leader’s war on gangs, announced by Bukele following a surge of violence in March 2022. Bukele’s government called for a “state of emergency” and waived constitutional rights to arrest more than 1% of El Salvador’s population with little evidence.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

spot_imgspot_img

Popular

More like this
Related

3 Killed in Sweden Hair Salon Shooting; Authorities Launch Manhunt for Suspect on Scooter

UPPSALA, Sweden — A shooting at a hair salon...

Teen Mom’s Star Nathan Griffith Could Face Four Years in Prison After Alleged Strangulation of Ex-Girlfriend

LAS VEGAS — Nathan Griffith, known for his appearance...

Trump Declares War on Amazon Over Tariff Transparency Move, Labels It ‘Hostile and Political’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump escalated his feud with...

At Least 22 Dead in Northern China Restaurant Fire, Authorities Say

BEIJING — A devastating fire at a restaurant in...