The authorities ordered large numbers of prisoners out to cemeteries, gave them sledgehammers, crowbars and a simple order: Destroy the gravestones of slain gang members. In one cemetery in the capital San Salvador alone, 80 tombstones were broken. Additionally, gang-related graffiti was removed.
The head of the country’s prisons, Osiris Luna, writes on Twitter that gang members do not deserve recognition. “That’s why we destroy every trace these groups leave behind,” he writes.
During the year, President Nayib Bukele has waged a war against organized crime and over 56,000 suspected gang members have reportedly been arrested since March. The president has ordered that a new large prison be built to be able to lock up all the convicts.
Human rights groups have raised the alarm about the arbitrary arrests of several people with no gang connections.