Bukele decrees a three-day duel for the death of three police officers in El Salvador

President Nayib Bukele decreed on Wednesday to observe mourning for the death of three police officers in El Salvador this week.

“It is ordered that all flags in our country be flown at half-staff for 3 days, in honor of the 3 heroes who gave their lives yesterday, to protect Salvadorans,” the president said in a tweet.

the three agents They guarded the surroundings of the community of La Realidad, from the municipality of Santa Ana, about 56 kilometers northwest of the capital, San Salvador. The president has directly blamed the gangs for the deaths.

On March 26, when 26 homicides were recorded at a level of crime not seen in El Salvador in years, Bukele asked Congress to approve the state of emergencywhich limits freedom of association and suspends the right to be duly informed of the rights and reasons for the arrest, as well as the assistance of a lawyer.

Bukele’s offensive against gangs that began in March has led to the imprisonment of 43,000 gang members, the president has received criticism from both inside and outside the country for what they accuse of serious human rights violations by using such methods to face crime organized.

This Wednesday the acting director of Human Rights Watch, Tamara Taraciuk, responded in a letter to Bukele for the criticism he made of the organization the day before, and after making it public, he sympathized with the families of the dead policemen as well as with the victims of gang activity in the country, but criticized the judicial proceeding of the ruler.

“His government has prioritized a punitive ‘war on gangs’ approach that favors mass incarceration without due process as a response to criminality,” Taraciuk said.

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