10,000 troops have surrounded the city of soyapango in el salvador as part of a massive crackdown on gangs. president bukele, the police, and the army were all involved in the operation. the troops blocked all roads leading to the city and conducted searches of homes for gang members while stopping everyone attempting to leave the city and checking identity papers.
Raid happened in late march as part of a massive crackdown on gangs following a surge in violence earlier this year. soyapango is one of el salvador’s largest cities and is home to more than 290,000 people. president bukele wrote on twitter that the municipality of soyapango was totally surrounded.
Teams from the police and the army were tasked with extricating all the gang members still there one by one. the raid was a welcome surprise to one resident, guadalupe perez. the heavy-handed nature of the crackdown has been criticised by rights groups, but president bukele’s allies say that it was necessary after a wave of homicides culminated with gangs being blamed for 62 murders in a single day on 26 march. a recent poll taken by the central american university (uca) found that 75.9 percent of salvadorans approved of the state of emergency. the justice minister said 12 people had been arrested so far.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-63846159?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
