To continue reinforcing the security of Salvadorans, the deputies of the Legislative Assembly extended, with 67 votes, for the tenth time, the state of emergency so that public security authorities continue fighting gangs.
The measure has been in force in the country since March 27. In that time, there have been more than 61,000 arrests of people linked to terrorist groups.
Among the detainees there are gang leaders; 200 camps have also been dismantled, more than 2,000 firearms and 14,500 cell phones have been seized. They have also confiscated $1.5 million in cash, from the collection of extortion, and $266 million in drugs.
“We Salvadorans started the year completely different. This country has already changed and will continue to change, and this is what the facts, the data and the very people who are already living it in their communities and neighborhoods say,” said the president of this State Organ, Ernesto Castro. “Both the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch are determined to continue working to make El Salvador the safest country on the continent,” he added.
The Ministers of Justice and Public Security, Gustavo Villatoro, and of National Defense, René Francis Merino Monroy, together with the director of the National Civil Police (PNC), Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, delivered the proposal to Deputy President Castro.
The expansion of this measure, which is supported by the population, has guaranteed security and freedom in neighborhoods and neighborhoods that were historically dominated by criminal structures.
“The time when the gang problem was a round business is over. Like it or not, the regime will continue until the last gang member is in jail. We will win the battle against the gangs and El Salvador will continue to top the lists of the safest countries,” said parliamentarian Marcela Pineda.
The official added that the Government, with the support of the Assembly, is building “El Salvador of opportunities, where Salvadorans are not afraid to go to play, to the university or to work.”
In this regard, legislator Suecy Callejas said: “The territories are recovering, they are being returned to the population, families can enjoy public spaces for the first time in a safe environment.”
According to the legislator, in one week there were 2.5 million visits by people in cultural spaces, data that had not been previously recorded and this is due to the security provided by the exception regime.
The results left by the measurement
The representatives of the Security Cabinet stated that 2022 was the least violent year in the country’s history, according to the indices obtained in terms of security.
“Our goal is to leave El Salvador free of gangs and that is why we have asked the Legislative Assembly for the necessary changes to criminal laws and procedural laws to guarantee the population that the captured terrorists and those who are missing never leave jail,” said Minister Villatoro.
According to the official, in 2021, the death rate in the country was 18.1%; while in 2022 it was 7.8% (the total number of homicides was 495).
Given this, throughout last year the average daily homicide was 1.35%, including the first three months that the regime was not in place, but when this tool was implemented it was 0.67% daily murders.
In the region, Guatemala reports a homicide rate of 17.3%; in Honduras, 29.32%; while in Panama it is 10.61%; in Costa Rica, 12.6%; and finally, in Nicaragua it is 18%.
At the Central American level, the death rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 7.8% and this figure is lower than that reported by Costa Rica, a nation that has always stood out for having few reports of acts of violence.
In December 2015, the year was closed with 585 homicides, but in the same month of 2022 there were 14 murders, according to Villatoro.
“It is a reduction that does not have a comparison with any other country that has achieved such a reduction from one year to the next,” said the Minister of Security.
In these nine months of the regime, the security authorities have carried out more than 50 operations outside Salvadoran territory to arrest gang members. In addition, the impunity rate for homicides has been reversed, since it was registered at 95%, but in 2022 it had a decrease of 35%.
“Extortions have been reduced by 80% and 95% only in the public transport sector, the daily average of homicides during the regime is 0.67%. Without an exception regime, a judicial process lasts for years, but now multidisciplinary teams have been formed to move forward,” said Congresswoman Callejas.
For his part, the director of the PNC, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, indicated that of the 495 homicides, 65% occurred in the first three months in which the regime had not yet been applied. The other 35% are divided into the other nine months of 2022.
This means that the initiatives, both of the exception regime and of the Territorial Control Plan, have been effective and the results irrefutable.
“As a new Legislative Assembly, we want to express to the people our commitment to continue working, hand in hand with the Security Cabinet of President Nayib Bukele, to achieve that dream that we good Salvadorans have, which is to definitively defeat the gangs and achieve peace. ”, pointed out Deputy Castro.