El Salvador declares a state of emergency as gangsters murder on Saturday, randomly shooting street vendors, bus passengers, and market patrons, marking the bloodiest day in the country since the end of the civil war 30 years ago. Was announced.
Early on Sunday morning, the El Salvador parliament approved a 30-day emergency rule, suspended some constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, relaxed arrest conditions, restricted free rallies, and the government Allowed to intercept citizens’ communications.
The military has also begun to limit who can enter and leave the neighborhood under the control of the infamous street gang MS-13.
According to government officials, the measure is an effort to stop violence that killed at least 62 people on Saturday, a national record for 6 million people.
Violence can damage the record of President Nayib Bukele, a charismatic young leader in El Salvador. Its approval rate is the highest in the world, accounting for about 85%. Mr. Buquere, 40, has campaigned with a promise to bring law and order to the streets of El Salvador, the most violent in the world, and he seems to have made that pledge since taking office nearly three years ago. was.
However, the reduction in violence may not have been the result of Mr. Buquere’s security policy, but the result of a secret arrangement between the government and the gang that was clearly summarized shortly after being elected president. El Faro in September 2020.
In December, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Salvador’s top executives, including the Deputy Minister of Justice and public security, for their role in negotiating “secret tricks with gang leaders.”
Mr. Buquere denied these accusations and supported his rigorous approach as the reason for the dramatic reduction in murders.
Now analysts and US officials say the deal may have collapsed.
Under these secret negotiations, the government provided financial incentives to gangs and provided incentives to gang leaders in prisons, including access to mobile phones and prostitutes, according to the Treasury. In exchange, the gang clearly promised to reduce gang violence and murder.
Mr. Buquere is the latest in a long line of El Salvadorian presidents who have been accused of negotiating with gangsters and giving them incentives to maintain peace. This tactic has been used by successive governments to win elections and appeal to those who are fed up with endless violence.
Residents of the capital, San Salvador, said he woke up on Saturday with gangsters, screams, shootouts and an outburst of violence after enjoying relatively peace for several years since Mr. Buquere was elected in 2019.
His neighbor, a young man, was killed on Saturday morning when he went out to buy bread for a family in the neighborhood managed by MS-13. On Sunday, soldiers and police officers flocked to the area to restore order.
After the violence is over, “This is always the case. More murders, more powerful operations, more soldiers invading,” he says, as he lives in a gang-dominated neighborhood, so don’t reveal his name. Marvin (34), who asked, said.
“But in about 15 days they leave and everything returns to normal,” he added, revealing that normal means that the gang has returned to control of the street.
Buquere, a young and energetic master of social media who prefers a baseball cap behind him to the usual glitz and circumstances associated with Cheong Wa Dae, has promised to retaliate against the gang in response to recent violence. ..
“Message to the gang: Because of your actions, your’homeboy’will not be able to see the sun,” the president wrote on Twitter on Sunday, the government closed the prison and the prisoners Leaving their cells in case of an emergency, adding that they are not allowed.
Security and political analysts speculated that Saturday’s violence could have been a gangster pressure tactic to renegotiate the terms of the deal they allegedly made with Mr. Buquere’s government. The violence was random and was not the result of threats to spats among gang members or to vendors who refused to pay extortion fees. It trapped everyone caught in the street.
Paul J. Angelo, a Latin American researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: “Bukere does not allow a good crisis to be wasted, and this happened because he had already promoted the legislature to help strengthen his power.”
The President of El Salvador is a rights group on his decision to dismiss the Supreme Court judge and the Justice Secretary in the past for using the army to interfere with the legislature and for the opposition’s seizure of unconstitutional power. Has been criticized by.
The announcement of the state of emergency on Sunday raised concerns that Mr. Buquere could take advantage of weekend violence to further strengthen himself.
