Regime of Exception
| Regime of Exception | |||
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| Règim d'Excepció | |||
.jpg) A police patrol during the crackdown. | |||
| Date | 7 April – 30 November 2020 | ||
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| Resulted in | Nearly 20,000 arrested | ||
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| Casualties | |||
| Death(s) | 329 (alleged) | ||
| Arrested | 19,506 | ||
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Political career Legislative elections Presidential elections Notable published works
Ideology
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The Regime of Exception (Salvadoran: Règim d'Excepció) was an 8-month period where the government of El Salvador arrested 19,506 people accused of having gang affiliations in response to a 3-day period where 64 murders were committed in early-April 2020.
Background
From 4 to 6 April 2020, the Salvadoran National Police (PNS) reported that criminal gangs in the country committed 63 murders, the most in a 3-day stretch in Salvadoran history since the Salvadoran Crisis of 1976. Salvadoran President Orlando Pareja Palau condemned the murders committed, and announced that he would take action to punish the gangs responsible, instead of the individuals responsible.
Period of arrests
On 7 April 2020, he introduced a bill to the Tribunals Generals which would allow the Salvadoran National Police to utilize deadly force and arbitrarily arrest individuals under suspicion of having gang affiliations, similar to the actions the Creeperian Imperial Police (PIC) is authorized to carry out in Creeperopolis. The Tribunals Generals passed the bill by a 73–11 majority, and the Salvadoran National Police began to arrest hundreds of people per day who were suspected of having gang affiliations.
From April to November 2020, El Salvador's security forces—the Salvadoran National Police, the National Guard, and the Salvadoran Army—arrested a total of 19,506 people suspected of having gang affiliations, mostly of the gangs Mara Salvatrucha, Barrio 14, and Reyes de Granada, which are considered to be the country's largest gangs. Many of the three gangs high ranking leaders were arrested and sentenced to multiple life sentences on several charges such as murder, racketeering, and terrorism.
According to El Faro, the Salvadoran government also extrajudicially killed around 329 people, however, the website has failed to provide evidence and Pareja Palau has responded to their accusation by stating, "maybe I should kill 329 subhuman gang members", which resulted in must foreign criticism and condemnation of his comments.
| Month | No. of arrests |
|---|---|
| April 2020 | 3,358 |
| May 2020 | 4,200 |
| June 2020 | 3,853 |
| July 2020 | 2,948 |
| August 2020 | 2,231 |
| September 2020 | 1,428 |
| October 2020 | 953 |
| November 2020 | 535 |
| Total | 19,506 |
Reactions
The crackdown, known as the Regime of Exception, was strongly criticized by his political opponents and foreign media outlets, who claimed Pareja Palau was arresting a high amount of innocent civilians and was using the crackdown as a tool to also crackdown against his political opponents. In response to their accusations, Pareja Palau removed all eleven deputies which opposed him in the Tribunals Generals from their commission assignments, stating, "we cannot have dangerous individuals like this—who oppose the prosperity of the Fatherland—to have a say in our country's important legislative commissions." His statement and removals were condemned by foreign media outlets and even by some foreign governments as "authoritarian and undemocratic".
Some of his political opponents were also arrested during the crackdown on charges of being members of gangs, including Llàtzer Macias Budi, the auxiliary deputy from Nuevo Honduras' 2nd District, Sònia Picañol Deulovol, the mayor of Amanimo, and Malaquies Monfulle Bertomeu, a political advisor to Bèlem Fabregà Espuñes, one of the deputies which opposed his presidency.
See also
