El Salvador’s lawmakers have granted a request by President Nayib Bukele for the 24th consecutive one-month extension of an anti-gang emergency decree
. The vote by congress late Friday means that by March 27, the country will have spent a full two years under the decree, which suspends some rights. Bukele has used emergency powers to round up 78,175 suspected gang members in sweeps that rights groups say are often arbitrary, based on a person’s appearance or where they live. The government has had to release about 7,000 people because of a lack of evidence.
El Salvador's homicide totals have dropped from 6,656 in 2015 — an average of about 18 per day — to 18 so far this year. In all of 2023, there were about 214 homicides, or about one every two days. But rights groups have expressed concerns about abuses inside El Salvador's prisons, and say that innocent people are being caught up in sweeps targeting the notorious violent street gangs. Gangs once controlled swaths of territory through brutality and fear.