El Salvador has authorized the extension of the state of emergency and the country will celebrate a year under the regime requested by Bukele

There Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, of a large pro-government majority, approved on Tuesday evening the eleventh enlargement of one exceptional regime with what The country will celebrate a year with this measure requested by the President’s government Nayib Bukele.

The Salvadoran government has requested an extension of the suspension of constitutional guarantees initially approved in March 2022 after a murder escalation attributed to gangs and claimed the lives of more than 80 people in three days.

Ruling party lawmakers New ideas and his allies approved the petition, without prior study or discussion, with 67 votes from the 84 deputies.

“The country has already changed, we are not going to back down, and it is thanks to the good results that are obtained in the streets, where we are going to get rid of all the gang members,” the president said. of Congress, Ernesto Castro.

The measure suspends the freedom of association the right of a person to be duly informed of his rights and of the reasons for his detention, as well as the right to be assisted by a lawyer.

Besides, extends the duration of preventive detention from 72 hours to 15 days and allows authorities to intervene in the correspondence and mobile phones of those they deem suspicious.

“Transforming a country in which there was no justice is a task that the three organs of the state must work hard atled by our president,” said the Minister of Security, Gustave Villatoro when submitting the extension request.

According to official figures, there are more than 64,000 people arrested whom the government accuses of belonging to gangs, in addition to the seizure of 2,326 firearms there $1.7 million in liquid.

Villatoro argued that “this measure will end until we capture the last member of these terrorist structures”.

The government has inaugurated in the southeast of the country, on the outskirts of the city of Tecoluca, a mega-prison where 40,000 suspected gang members will be detained. (Presidential House)

MP Claudia Ortiz of the opposition Vamos party opposed the media expansion and said she would maintain her position “until there is a comprehensive plan” and “with respect the innocent “.

He asked for there to be a the rapid release of innocent people and mechanisms that guarantee due process so that justice reaches the victims not just to add numbers.

Ortiz recalled that there are proposals, like the one presented by the mothers of the disappeared, to “give answers” to the victims and that these have not been addressed in Congress.

“It is very easy to extend the exceptional regime every month, but what is complex is really to seek truth and justice for those who have been victims of it. of these very serious crimes committed by organized criminal groups,” he said.

He criticized the fact that “there is no feasible solution in the short term”.

MP Claudia Ortiz of the opposition Vamos party opposed the media expansion and said she would maintain her position “until there is a comprehensive plan” and “with respect the innocent “. (AFP)

The emergency regime was approved hours after President Bukele assured in a Twitter message that the country “has come to 300 days without homicides“, without providing statistics.

Salvadoran humanitarian organizations and the Office for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH) have received more than 7,900 complaints of abuse, the majority by arbitrary arrests.

The authorities attribute to this measure and the Territorial Control Plan the drop in homicides, which according to official accounts were 496 in 2022, or 57% less than in 2021.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) suggested to the government to look at this end of 2022 “eliminate” the emergency regime and replace it “with a sustainable strategy that respects human rights”. The president’s answer was a resounding “no”.

Recently, the government inaugurated in the south-east of the country, on the outskirts of the city of Tecolucanail megacarcel where 40,000 suspected gang members will be held and who has been called “Terrorism Containment Center” (BLIND).