President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele announces new anti-gang measures

President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele announces new anti-gang measures

President Nayib Bukele @nayibbukele announced Wednesday that he will impose military and police sieges in cities to search for street gang members, the latest step in a nine-month anti-crime crackdown.

“Now comes phase five, which is the extraction part of the criminals that still remain in the communities,” said the president during an act in front of some 14,000 soldiers who will join the task to search the gangs.

Bukele referred to it as “Phase Five” of the crackdown, which has resulted in the imprisonment of over 58,000 people since a state of emergency was declared in late March following a wave of homicides. Bukele said, “Now comes phase five, which is rooting out the criminals that still remain in communities.”