A Salvadoran housewife who has just voted in La Campanera, the gang’s former stronghold, looks around suspiciously Neighborhood 18. She breathes a sigh of relief because there are no more deaths in her neighborhood, but she prefers to keep her identity: “There is still fear,” she said.
“There are still remnants of gangs here, there are mothers, fathers, brothers, cousins, wives, sons, daughters and they have this mentality (of gang members),” this little 53-year-old woman tells AFP after being in the Local school voted, painted blue and white.
She has lived with her husband and two children in La Campanera, a populous suburb of the city, for 30 years Sojapangoon the eastern outskirts of San Salvador, near the Neighborhood 18 He killed French photographer Christian Poveda in September 2009.
The woman, wearing a sweater because of the cool morning air, said she felt safe with soldiers patrolling the area. “But when they’re not there, everything changes,” he said.
Under an emergency regime in force since March 2022, thousands of soldiers and police have surrounded entire districts as part of the “anti-gang war” of President Nayib Bukele, who is a big favorite for re-election this Sunday due to his security policies.
In The bell ringa neighborhood with only one entry and exit street that was previously completely controlled by Gang membersthere is no more graffiti Neighborhood 18 on the walls of their small concrete brick houses.
The first to vote there were 12 soldiers responsible for guarding the place 24 hours a day.
Before Bukele When the “war” against the gangs began, La Campanera was considered by authorities to be one of the most dangerous areas in the capital. The front quarters were controlled by the rival group Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
Trust in security
In La Campanera, surrounded by hills covered in vegetation, some gathered courage and opened small businesses, confident that Bukele will be re-elected and continue the emergency regime he has imposed to fight crime.
Sandra Burgos, 68 years old, is one of them. Three months ago he opened a small bookstore, which he uses to support himself financially.
“It used to be ugly, but today we are fine, we go out (…) before it was not possible,” says Burgos, recalling that before the emergency regime they were afraid to leave their homes and the To encounter gang members who were there were stationed in the hallways of the place. .
Very close to the bookstore, Lucia Alvayero46, makes corn tortillas that he throws on a hot griddle.
Alvayero He has just voted and said very smilingly that he knows that “President Bukele is the one who will win” because what the president has done so far “is good”, especially in terms of security.
In 2023, the country recorded a murder rate of 2.4 per 100,000 residents, the lowest in three decades.
“Since President Bukele made the decision today to impose an emergency regime, we are fine (let it continue) as long as it is necessary,” Alvayero said in the shade of an almond tree.
“A lot of people think it’s a dictatorship, but it’s not a dictatorship,” he claims.
Calibrate the regime
Sitting on a bench in a street food shop in La Campanera is Mario Delgado, Although he “supports” the emergency regime, he says that this measure affects people who owe nothing.
With the regime, “they have also violated the rights of those of us who are not crooks (thieves),” says the man, dressed in shorts and a striped shirt.
For the 68-year-old pensioner with a hoarse and strong voice, the issue of human rights “has to be seen”. “Children are left without their parents because they are taken to prison,” he said.
More than 75,000 people identified as gang members have been arrested under the regime, which allows arrests without a court order and has been criticized by human rights groups. About 7,000 were released because they were innocent.
ascending