They claim that the authorities are filling out “quotas,” for which they are capturing innocent people in El Salvador.
Several social organizations that participated in the march on 14 January believe that following the sharp rebound in the arrests that have taken place in the last month in El Salvador, there is the intention of the authorities to fill “quotas.” of arrests with a view to obtaining electoral credits
A count carried out by the RAMFICA PRESS, based on the publications related to captures, made by the National Civil Police (PNC) and the Armed Forces (FAES), found that in just 48 hours, between 10 and 12 January, the authorities made a total of 117 captures of alleged gang members.
A pace that coincides with the upward trend that began last December. According to data from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security,
Of course, during the electoral phase, we have seen the increase in arbitrary arrests as a method of political campaign, police officers are practically in full shift… The emergency regime is something political used by this government as a campaign method, said Ivania Cruz of the Committee of Relatives of Prisoners and Political Prisoners (Cofappes), who also brought the measure to the surprise requisitions carried out in several penal centers last week.
Samuel Ramírez, representative of the Movement of Victims of the Regime (MOVIR), also agreed to point out that the increase in catches takes place within the framework of the legislative and presidential elections, so he did not discard that they respond to an “electoral strategy” of the government.
It is rumored that there are quotas, that five arrests have been made daily (polig cops and soldiers) and people who have nothing to do with gangs are being taken,” he said.
“All this type of media action, all this show they ride is in the logic of putting in the population the idea that there is actually a fight against crime, but we believe that what they are looking for is to intimidate Salvadoran society in general,” concluded Francisco Parada, of the Bloque de Resistencia y Rebeldía Popular (BRRP).
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in La Prensa Grafica