Gang members burn their tattoos so they can avoid arrest, the president said on Wednesday. El SalvadorNagib Boukele, whose government has launched an anti-organized crime campaign in which authorities say they have arrested more than 20,000 criminals in the past month.
“Until recently, gang members proudly displayed their tattoos, giving them a place, an identity, a rank, and serving to terrorize their victims. “Now, they are burning their bodies to try to hide them,” the head of state said via Twitter.
Nuestra @PNCSV y @FUERZARMADASV up to 20,000 captures from the start #GuerraContraPandillas
As of 7pm this day, the total number of captured terrorists is 20,290, a total of 33 days.
Following … pic.twitter.com/RJWg3TzFgk
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 28, 2022
He posted photos of three alleged gang members who appear to have burns, which have not healed or are being healed, on parts of their skin where they had tattoos.
One of them, with burns all over his chest, is according to the police, Luis Alberto Setino Mata, known as “Sayahin”. The other two detainees, pictured in the photos uploaded by Mr. Boukele, have minor burns where they had tattoos.
“They will grow old in prison. “Their crimes are not statute-barred”, added Mr. Boukele.
Mr Boukele declared a “war” on the gangs after wave of 87 murders from the 25th to the 27th of Marchattributed by his government to members of the “mara”.
According to law enforcement, 20,290 gang members have been arrested by police and the military since launching a large-scale operation against the gangs on March 26; millions of inhabitants.
The gangs, the most notorious of which are Mara Salvatrouca (MS-13) and Barrio 18, number around 70,000 members, about half of whom are now in prison, according to authorities.
The forty-year-old president of El Salvador, in power since 2019, enjoys high popularity, mainly thanks to his promises to crack down on crime. But his penchant for authoritarianism has drawn criticism from political opponents, NGOs and the international community, who say it undermines democracy.
His government has also been accused of colluding with the two largest gangs in the recent past, offering their leading members better prison terms, money and other benefits if they reduced the violence and backed Boukele’s party. The president and other officials have repeatedly denied the allegations, despite a series of revelations in the press.
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