El Salvador’s congress has granted a request by President Nayib Bukele for a second one-month extension of the country’s anti-gang emergency decree.
FILE - Men are detained by the police, suspects of a homicide near a market in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, March 27, 2022. Five organizations have documented more than 300 human rights complaints since El Salvador´s President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency in March to fight criminal gangs in the country. El Salvador’s congress granted a request Wednesday by President Nayib Bukele for a second extension of the country’s anti-gang emergency decree.
“This war is going to continue for as long as necessary and to the extent that the public continues to demand it,” Villatoro said. “We are going to continue to confront this cancer, and we have said it before and we stand by it, this war will continue until the gangs are eradicated from the territory of El Salvador.”
Rights groups have criticized the measures, saying arrests are often arbitrary, based on a person’s appearance or where they live. The measure restricts the right to gather, to be informed of rights and to have access to a lawyer. It extends to 15 days the time that someone can be held without charges.
Gang members held at Salvadoran prisons have been put on reduced food rations, denied mattresses and frog-marched around.