The city was completely surrounded, President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter on Saturday. A correspondent for the AFP news agency reported that soldiers and police officers armed with guns were searching the city for gang members. Military vehicles and police cars drove through the streets and drones were also deployed.
Bukele declared a state of emergency at the end of March after 87 people were killed in the Central American country within three days. In November, he announced that entire cities would be cordoned off so soldiers and police officers could go from house to house looking for gang members. Soyapango was now the first city to host such a large-scale operation.
Soyapango is one of the largest cities in El Salvador and has long been considered unsafe due to gang crime. A few months ago, authorities began removing the graffiti the gangs use to mark their areas. According to Mayor Nercy Montano, the measures taken so far have already achieved “a huge improvement” in the security situation.
More than 58,000 suspected gang members have been arrested in El Salvador since the state of emergency was declared. Parliament has extended the state of emergency several times, most recently until mid-December. Human rights organizations criticize the state of emergency, which allows detention without judgment, among other things, as a drastic curtailment of fundamental rights.
(SDA)