Nelson Renteria

SAN SALVADOR – Several innocent persons have been arrested in El Salvador over the past months in President Nayib Bikel’s “war of gangs.” Five officials reported that superiors made officers meet daily arrest quotas under a state of emergency. 

El Salvador recorded 62 deaths in March. This was the most since 1992, when the country had been in civil war. To respond, the Legislative Assembly was led by Bukele’s populist-leaning right-leaning party and declared a State of Emergency, suspending constitutional rights for citizens. More than 25.000 people were arrested in the last month. 

“We received between 40-40 and 45 complaints.” [officers in]Different areas in the country have officials requiring specific numbers of detainees,” stated Marvin Reyes (General Secretary, Police Workers Movement Union). They impose six captures per day in some areas, five in other places, and three in another.”

A spokesperson for the police denied that quotas were used and stated that such orders are considered serious crimes and asked staff to report them.

Three police sources and two military sources have shared information that reveal security forces being deployed in high-risk locations to arrest suspected gang members.

Bukele made fighting crime and violence his top priority since he was elected president in June 2019.

The Salvadoran media and Reuters both reported on investigations by the prosecutor that revealed government officials allegedly met with gang leaders imprisoned in exchange for lower homicides or Bukele’s votes at legislative elections.

Washington issued sanctions against two Salvadoran officials who were accused of having negotiated with criminals.

In March violence exploded and an emergency declaration was made.

Although his law-and-order tactics are popular, reports of assaults and arrests of innocents highlight the weaknesses of Bukele’s new approach.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Cristosal Central American Organization received more than 200 complaints, 160 of which they called “arbitrary”.

Bukele defended the operation, but said that only “1%” could have been innocent and should be “corrected.”

He wrote that “in such a big operation there will always be errors to correct” on Twitter (NYSE 🙂 April 9. This story was not confirmed by the presidency.

‘UNREALISTIC QUOTAS’

Two Salvadoran soldiers and four policemen arrived at Cristian Machado’s home on April 18th. They handcuffed him in the back seat of their pickup and accused him of being a member of a gang. Machado’s neighbor and brother were also detained.

Cristian’s mother Lizzette Maradiaga said, “My children don’t belong to gangs.”

Machado was released four days later. After 18 days in jail, Manuel, his older brother and father-of-two, was released. His neighbor, Manuel, also 27, was freed on May 5. 

Manuel stated that the guards had hit him with such force that they wanted you to confess that you belonged to a criminal group. Manuel also said that Manuel was forced to live in a cell with 150 other people. Twenty of those he spoke to were gang members.

Reuters also learned about three cases that were similar to Machado’s. Officers detained individuals with no gang ties, and they then released them. The four cases Reuters reported were not mentioned by the police.

Officers say that there are 46,000 active gang members within the country. Accordingly to them, chiefs split this number between El Salvador’s 14 department and requested arrest quotas.

“Many of them [gang members]”They are not here anymore, some have passed away, and others have emigrated,” said he. He added, “We started from an unrealistic number. Therefore, the quotas which were requested are unrealistic.”

According to Reuters, a colonel in the armed force also asked anonymity and said that military chiefs wanted 30 daily arrests per brigade or deployment.

A request for comment was not received by the defense ministry immediately.