El Salvador Rings Off Entire Region to Battle Gangs

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Facts

  • El Salvador's security forces have surrounded the rural Cabañas department, adjacent to Honduras, to block gangs from leaving the region and to disrupt their supply chains following an attack over the weekend that injured two police officers.1
  • The military siege, reported on Tuesday by President Nayib Bukele, is part of a new operation in his war against criminal organizations. 7K military personnel and 1K heavily armed police officers have been sent to the central province.2
  • Bukele has claimed that the province of Cabañas has become a hotbed for terrorists — a term he uses in reference to members of the notorious MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs — as criminals file to rural areas to hide from and avoid crackdowns.3
  • Though trucks filled with soldiers were reportedly sighted traveling to the region, including in the towns of Tejutepeque and Ilobasco, the president has urged locals and tourists to carry on as normal.4
  • This action is the fifth such mass raid since a state of emergency was imposed in March 2022. In May, 5K soldiers and police officers were deployed to the northern township of Nueva Concepción after the killing of a police officer.5
  • The ongoing crackdown has led to over 70K gang-related arrests, allegedly forcing gangs out of large urban centers. However, rights groups have asserted that thousands of people with no discernible link to criminal activity have been arbitrarily detained.6

Sources: 1Times, 2EL PAÍS English, 3Washington Post, 4The Telegraph, 5Al Jazeera, and 6BBC News.

Narratives

  • Right narrative, as provided by FOX News. The once gang-ridden El Salvador has seen a significant plunge in gang-related violence, including homicides, since Bukele ordered emergency powers be used to repress organized crime over a year ago. Therefore, it's no surprise that lawmakers keep renewing the special powers each month, or that eight out of every ten Salvadorans approve the anti-gang measures.
  • Left narrative, as provided by Guardian. Homicide rates and extortions have indeed fallen, meaning Bukele's hardline crackdown on gangs has won supporters at home and abroad despite ignoring basic rights and involving the arrest of lots of innocent people. History, however, has shown that this plunge is unsustainable, as "iron fist" drives in Latin America too often end poorly as they fail to tackle the root causes of violence and fueling resentment.