El Salvador electoral tribunal green lights Bukele’s re-election bid
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters El Salvador’s electoral tribunal on Friday approved President Nayib Bukele’s candidacy in next year’s presidential election, where he will seek a second term that would keep him in office until 2029 if reelected. The decision comes a week after the 42-year-old President formally filed paperwork to run for re-election, despite concerns […]
El Salvador backs mass trials for thousands held in crime crackdown
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters El Salvador’s Congress on Wednesday approved group trials for the tens of thousands of people arrested during President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on criminal gangs, which has given the country one of the world’s highest incarceration rates. The legislation will allow prosecutors to simultaneously try up to hundreds of people alleged to […]
Rehabilitating gang members: Pastors find a role ministering to young men swept up in El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs
MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ, of Associated Press, reports on the work of churches involved in rehabilitating gang members – and the impact President Nayib Bukele’s gang crackdown has had on them…
El Salvador begins transfers to ‘mega prison’ amid gang crackdown
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters El Salvador’s government moved thousands of suspected gang members to a newly opened “mega prison” on Friday, the latest step in a controversial crackdown on crime that has caused the Central American nation’s prison population to soar. “This will be their new home, where they won’t be able to do any […]
El Salvador vows gang crackdown will go on as citizens cheer safer streets
San Salvador Reuters El Salvador’s state of emergency to combat gangs, which has widespread public support despite a growing prison population and allegations of human rights abuses, will be maintained until all criminals are captured, the country’s security minister told Reuters. Since President Nayib Bukele asked the country’s congress to approve a state of exception […]
El Salvador opens 40,000-person prison as arrests soar in gang crackdown
San Salvador Reuters Authorities in El Salvador have opened one of Latin America’s largest prisons, more than doubling the country’s incarceration capacity, as a government crackdown on criminal gangs is causing the prison population to soar. The 40,000-capacity Terrorism Confinement Center was inaugurated on Tuesday to help relieve some of the overpopulation in the country’s […]
Report on Salvadoran gang crackdown details killings, other abuses
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters El Salvador’s extended crackdown on the country’s gangs has led to abuses, including at least 86 detainees deaths while in custody, many showing signs of torture, suggesting “state responsibility,” according to an independent report released on Wednesday. The report by Human Rights Watch and Salvadoran justice non-profit Cristosal marks the […]
Bukele’s anti-gang push in El Salvador hammers gangster graves
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters Salvadoran prisoners collaborating with officials smashed gangster graves with hammers and metal poles in President Nayib Bukele’s latest crackdown on violent gangs, this time aiming to prevent any would-be admirers from paying their respects. Dozens of graves in La Libertad, west of the capital San Salvador, were left in ruins […]
El Salvador: War on gangs leaves poor families reeling
NELSON RENTERIA and ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report that President Bukele’s crackdown has led to mass arrests, mainly young men from poor areas, and relatives say many are innocent…
In El Salvador, discrepancy over deaths and mass graves alarms critics
San Salvador Reuters In El Salvador, testimony from police officers and conflicting statistics on mass graves are leading critics to question if homicides in the Central American country are being fully reported as access to official information tightens. Despite a group of police officers, prosecutors and forensic experts cross-checking statistics of homicides and mass graves, […]