“We did the right thing for the people of El Salvador,” Ernesto Castro, chairman of the Legislative Assembly, wrote on Twitter after the announcement of the government decree. “We have declared a state of emergency to enable the government to protect the lives of the people of El Salvador and to tackle crime.” El Salvador has a long history of organized crime groups battling security forces and controlling each other’s territory and drug routes across Central America. The small Central American country – about the size of Massachusetts – topped the world in the number of homicides associated with its population size for several consecutive years in the 2010s. President Nayib Bukele took office in June 2019 with widespread support, after vowing to stand firm against the gang violence that has plagued El Salvador for decades. In 2020, he approved the use of deadly force by police and the army against gang members who he said were exploiting the coronavirus pandemic, following a weekend of violence that left at least 50 people dead across the country. In December, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two El Salvador government officials, accusing them of negotiating with the MS-13 and Barrio 18 in a bid to reach a “truce” and strengthen political support. During the talks, the US government claimed, gang leaders agreed to provide political support to the ruling Nuevas Ideas party in the upcoming elections. The United States has said that Nuevas Ideas won a two-thirds majority in the 2021 parliamentary elections. The United States has also accused the Bukele government in 2020 of providing financial incentives to gangs to “ensure that gang violence and homicide rates remain low” and that it provided cell phones and prostitutes to incarcerated gang leaders. Boukele at the time denied that his government was negotiating with gangs. He wrote on Twitter that the allegations that the government was supplying mobile phones, prostitutes and money to gangs were an “obvious lie”. Critics, meanwhile, have accused the 40-year-old of authoritarian tendencies. In February 2020, Bukele sent armed troops to Congress as he demanded that lawmakers approve his plan to secure a $ 109 million loan to address gang violence. And last September, the Supreme Court of El Salvador ruled that the president could serve two consecutive terms in power, paving the way for Bouquetle to run for re-election in 2024. The Supreme Court justices were appointed in May 2021 by the country’s newly elected Congress – which is dominated by Bouquet’s party – after lawmakers ousted Supreme Court justices and the attorney general. Although homicides have declined since Boukele took power, killings have risen in recent weeks. Boukele said on Sunday that the measures “will be implemented by the competent bodies only when necessary”. “Life will go on normally for the vast majority of people,” he said in a tweet. The law was approved by 67 votes in favor, according to a tweet from the official account of the legislature. Seventeen members either abstained or voted against. CNN’s Merlin Delcid, Eliza Mackintosh, Sheena McKenzie, Flora Charner, Tatiana Arias and Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.
