Thousands of security forces in El Salvador surrounded a northern town on Wednesday in a bid to arrest those behind the alleged gang-related killing of a police officer, according to President Nayib Bukele.
“They will pay dearly for the murder of our hero,” Bukele said on Twitter, saying some 5,000 members of the armed forces and 500 police officers were sent to the municipality of Nueva Concepción “in search of those responsible for the homicide, and the entire gang structure and collaborators who are still hiding in that place,” he wrote.
The police say the officer was killed in Nueva Concepción when gang members attacked him and other officers while on patrol. “One terrorist was captured at the scene. We execute an operation to find the other responsible parties,” the police wrote on Twitter Tuesday.Constitutional rights have been suspended in the country, including freedom of assembly, after Bukele declared a state of emergency with the support of his country’s Legislative Assembly, controlled by his “New Ideas” party, in 2022.
It has enabled security forces to arrest thousands of people, suspected to be gang members, while suspending their right to legal defense and to be charged without conviction. Some 64,000 people have been arrested since the state of emergency began, some of whom have been transferred to a megaprison earlier this year.
Similar security operations have taken place under the state of emergency, where forces have surrounded areas considered dangerous in a bid to tackle gang members.
Source: ncc
In other news- Court to hear challenge over Duke of Sussex’s visa following drug revelations
A federal judge will hear an appeal from a conservative think tank to unseal Prince Harry’s US immigration records following revelations in his book that he took drugs.
Nile Gardner, of the Heritage Foundation, tweeted on Tuesday a hearing on his organisation’s suit will be heard on 6 June. Learn more
