El Salvador forces encircle neighborhoods in gang crackdown

MARCOS ALEMÁN
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Security forces have intensified operations against El Salvador’s street gangs with mass arrests, the cordoning off of neighborhoods and house-by-house searches under a state of emergency that has raised concerns among some organizations it could open the door to human rights abuses. Rather than back down under growing criticism, President Nayib Bukele appeared ready to double down, announcing Tuesday that he had asked the president of the Congress to convene lawmakers to give him more legal tools to take on gangs. The country’s relatively low homicide rate during Bukele’s administration had been one of his most touted accomplishments. That changed last weekend when 89 people were killed in a four-day span.