El Salvador marks its first year under anti-gang crackdown

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The Central American nation of El Salvador has finished a full year under anti-gang emergency measures that were originally supposed to last only a month. Monday was the the first anniversary of President Nayib Bukele’s request for special powers to pursue the gangs on March 27, 2022, following a surge in gang violence in which 62 people were killed in a single day. The country’s legislature has voted every month since then to renew the measures, which suspend some rights. In the year since, a total of 66,417 people have been arrested. Of those, 4,304 have been released. Rights groups say there have been 5,802 suspected cases of rights violations.