El Salvador’s security forces intensified their operations against the country’s street gangs Tuesday with mass arrests, the cordoning off of neighborhoods and house-by-house searches under a state of emergency sought by President Nayib Bukele.
The country’s relatively low murder rate during Bukele’s administration had been one of his most touted accomplishments. Even while some raised doubts about how it was obtained, the country had been living in peace compared to earlier periods of bloodshed.
