Central America
Troops deployed in San Salvador amid massive gang crackdown
| By AFP |
More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded two districts in El Salvador’s capital on Saturday as part of President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs, the second such operation this month in the Central American country.
“As of this morning, the Tutunichapa district in San Salvador is totally surrounded,” Bukele posted on Twitter.
“More than 1,000 soldiers and 130 police officers will extract the criminals who still remain,” he added.
Bukele later tweeted that 1,000 more soldiers and 100 police officers had been dispatched to La Granjita, another neighborhood in the capital.
“After encircling Tutunichapa, a famous drug distribution center, we knew that many drug traffickers would take refuge in the neighborhood of La Granjita, another famous distribution center”, Bukele tweeted.
Images released Saturday by the office of the president showed heavily armed soldiers entering Tutunichapa, a populous district where small houses mostly constructed of concrete blocks stand alongside one of the many polluted streams that run through San Salvador.
Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro posted photos of members of an anti-narcotics police unit with drug-sniffing dogs.
“We are going to extract every criminal from our communities,” Villatoro said in a Twitter post.
‘Bastion on crime’
Defense Minister Rene Merino said 23 people had been arrested in Tutunichapa, without specifying whether they were accused of being gang members or drug traffickers.
“All terrorists, drug traffickers and gang members will be removed” from the area, Bukele said in another tweet, adding that until recently it was a “bastion of crime.”
“Honest citizens have nothing to fear and can continue to live their lives normally,” he wrote.
Local resident Edwin Diaz, 51, cheered the law enforcement action, saying the area has long been considered a dangerous place due to gang activity and drug sales.
“All our lives we have suffered the stigma that here there is drug dealing, gang members, bad things, and today with this security they have set up, there is nothing to fear,” Diaz told AFP by phone on Saturday.
Echoing Bukele’s remark, Diaz added: “He who owes nothing, fears nothing.”
Almost 60,000 arrests
Earlier this month, Bukele, who has declared a state of emergency to quash gang violence, sent 8,500 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to surround Soyapango, the country’s third-largest city, with a population of nearly a quarter million.
The president had announced last month a plan to use troops to surround cities while house-by-house searches are conducted for gang members. Soyapango was first on the list.
The siege there has seen armored military vehicles, some with artillery, carrying out constant patrols while heavily armed police search houses and people as they leave their neighborhoods, as well as random sweeps of public transport.
As of Saturday, some 650 suspected gang members had been arrested in Soyapango, Merino said.
“We continue working in the rest of the territory looking for terrorist criminals,” the defense minister added.
Almost 60,000 suspected gang members have been arrested since the launch of the state of emergency in March, which has prompted humanitarian groups to question what they see as heavy-handed tactics.
Despite that criticism, El Salvador’s Congress on Thursday once again extended the state of emergency for another month.
Over 75 percent of Salvadorans approve of the emergency declaration, and nine out of 10 Salvadorans say that crime “has decreased” with Bukele’s policies, according to a Central American University (UCA) poll published in October.
Central America
Bukele warns crime can become a ‘parallel government’ during visit to Costa Rica
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, accompanied by his official delegation, arrived at the site where the new facilities of the Center for the High Containment of Organized Crime (CACCO) are being built. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves welcomed Bukele, marking the start of the cornerstone-laying ceremony.
“Thank you very much to President Rodrigo Chaves and his cabinet for this invitation,” Bukele said, noting that this was his fourth meeting with the Costa Rican leader in the past two years.
In his address, Bukele stressed that insecurity is a problem that undermines all aspects of society. “When insecurity advances, jobs collapse, education becomes more difficult, and the economy slows down. People stop going out, businesses close early, investment leaves, and tourism disappears,” he said.
The Salvadoran president warned that if crime continues to grow, it can turn into a parallel government—“the dictatorship of gangs, criminals, and drug traffickers.” He added that this situation has not yet occurred in Costa Rica and that the country is still in time to prevent it.
Central America
U.S. and El Salvador maintain close partnership, embassy says
The Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in El Salvador, Naomi Fellows, said on Monday that relations between the two countries remain “very close” and that both governments continue to work together in several areas of shared interest.
Speaking at a press conference, Fellows highlighted the longstanding friendship between the United States and El Salvador, as well as the achievements reached through bilateral agreements.
“In terms of our relationship with El Salvador, it continues to be very strong, very close. We are partners on security issues, on economic development; partners on migration, and on many other matters,” she said.
Fellows added that the relationship remains solid and is expected to continue strengthening through joint actions and cooperation initiatives.
On security, she noted that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has underscored the results of the measures implemented by the government of President Nayib Bukele to improve public safety in the country.
Senior U.S. officials have visited El Salvador to observe firsthand the impact of the Territorial Control Plan, including tours of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
Fellows also emphasized the strong personal ties between the two nations, pointing to family and friendship connections that link Salvadorans and Americans.
Central America
Taiwan’s $10 million donation after 2001 earthquakes allegedly diverted in El Salvador
Amid the national tragedy left by the earthquakes of January 13 and February 13, 2001, a controversial corruption scandal emerged that later implicated former presidents Francisco Flores and Elías Antonio Saca, as well as senior executives of the ARENA party.
Although there were efforts to conceal a scheme involving the misuse of public funds, subsequent investigations revealed that between October 2003 and April 2004 the government of Taiwan, led at the time by President Chen Shui-bian, delivered at least three checks totaling $10 million in donations to El Salvador. The funds were diverted and never recorded by the Technical Secretariat for External Financing, the government body responsible for coordinating and monitoring international cooperation resources.
The plight of more than 1.5 million earthquake victims prompted an outpouring of international solidarity. However, it also fueled ambitions among sectors that allegedly took advantage of the emergency to improperly appropriate resources intended to ease the suffering of those affected.
Part of the $10 million donation was earmarked for the construction of housing for residents of Las Colinas, one of the communities hardest hit by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck on January 13, 2001, at 11:35 a.m. Plans also included the creation of a memorial park to honor the 525 victims buried by landslides.
At a press conference in January 2014, Alejandro Flores, president of the Las Colinas community board, stated that residents received some assistance from Taiwanese cooperation funds. However, he clarified that this support came from different resources and that the destination of the $10 million donation was never known to them.
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