El Salvador approves eighth extension of the emergency regime

SAN SALVADOR – With 67 of 84 legislators, the Salvadoran Congress once again said yes to the emergency regime, a security policy that seeks to neutralize the actions of violent gangs in the Central American country.

The eighth extension, for 30 more days, comes hours after the United Nations Organization (UN), through the Committee against Torture, began an evaluation of the human rights situation in El Salvador.

Recently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS) also expressed its concern “over the persistence of massive and allegedly arbitrary detentions, and the failure to comply with judicial guarantees.”

But, according to the Salvadoran Ministry of Security, there are still gang members at large, so it is “necessary to extend the exception regime to capture at least 83,000 gang members.” As of November 15, the government reports the capture of 57,000 people.

“Although the circumstances under which the suspension of rights and guarantees were decreed have diminished, the threat of criminal action by said groups persists, therefore, suspending the application of the aforementioned extraordinary measures derived from said regime would lead to a setback in progress achieved”, reads the petition sent to the Salvadoran Congress.

The emergency regime in El Salvador began on March 27, after the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs murdered 88 Salvadorans in three days. An atypical fact, since according to official figures homicides had decreased.

The Constitution of El Salvador establishes that the exception regime can be extended for a period of 30 days, if the causes that motivated it persist.

Following the recently approved extension, El Salvador will remain under an exception regime until December 18.

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