According to the government’s announcement on Saturday, El Salvador began Christmas Eve with a military operation against drug dealers in a neighborhood in San Salvador. The operation was a component of the contentious countrywide campaign against criminal gangs.
President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter that the government has sent out 1,000 soldiers and about 130 police officers to assist in an operation in the impoverished Tutunichapa hamlet.
In the capital city of El Salvador, in a neighborhood notorious for drug selling that had experienced a similar military incursion in October 2020, security authorities detained 23 suspected criminals.
Later on Saturday, the police said in a statement that they had found “plenty of marijuana and crack bundles” as well as more than $10,000 in cash and guns.
Bukele tweeted, “All terrorists, drug dealers, and gang members will be removed from this community.” Honest citizens need not worry and can carry on with their daily lives as usual.
While the Bukele government has significantly reduced homicides in Central America, non-profit organizations have criticized the government for using excessive force in its anti-gang campaigns.
Reuters
