During this week, Salvadorans have vehemently rejected the militarization of municipalities in the department of Chalatenango, which was ordered by President Nayib Bukele supposedly to control the "18 Sureños" gang.
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Since Monday, around 6,000 military and police officers have surrounded the municipalities of Potonico, San Antonio Los Ranchos, San Isidro Labrador, and San Jose Cancasque.
Authorities justified this deployment by arguing that two homicides occurred in San Jose Cancasque and Chalatenango last week. However, citizens warned about the possibility of Bukele using the military siege against municipalities where his New Ideas Party did not win.
Human rights organization Cristosal demanded that authorities treat the inhabitants of these municipalities with respect. The Bukele administration asked them to host soldiers and police officers participating in the siege in their homes.
On Tuesday, the University of El Salvador community condemned the military occupation of Chalatenango, recalling that the Bukele administration has extended the "State of Exception" 24 times in a row and detained over 7,000 people who had to be released for being innocent.
Human rights activists also denounced that this extraordinary policy suspends many citizen guarantees and freedoms, thus operating as a tool to intimidate and repress the population.
The U.S.-based Due Process of Law Foundation warned that some serious human rights violations perpetrated during the state of exception may constitute crimes against humanity.
It also emphasized that the widespread and systematic application of certain practices "seems to be part of a coordinated policy used against the civilian population."
Since 2022, NGOs have received over 6,000 complaints of human rights violations mainly related to arbitrary detentions and torture. So far, over 200 detainees have died in state custody in El Salvador.