More than 1,000 minors detained in El Salvador during state of emergency, according to government figures

(CNN Spanish) — El Salvador’s Justice and Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said Thursday that the El Salvador government has detained 1,194 minors under the age of 18 during the state of emergency.

According to Villatoro, approximately 1,065 of those detained have already been convicted by the judicial system of gang affiliation or collaboration with these criminal groups.

In response to the surge in violence, which saw 62 murders in a single day, emergency rule is in place through the end of March 2022.

Minors were caught after video broadcast

El Salvador’s security cabinet said Thursday that eight minors had been detained in the Chalatenango department, about 83 kilometers from San Salvador.

The minors, aged between 12 and 15, appear in a video spread on social networks in which they are seen making typical gang gestures, authorities said.

Six minors were captured on Tuesday and two others on Sunday, but details were only revealed at a press conference this Thursday. Minister Villatoro warned that they would continue “digital patrolling” operations.

Officers patrol outside CECOT cells in Tecoluca in San Vicente, El Salvador, on February 6, 2024. (Photo by Alex Pena/Getty Images)

Reforms increased punishment for minors

Security officials say a minimum sentence of up to 20 years in prison for a young person between the ages of 12 and 18 for crimes committed by illegal groups in El Salvador after reforms were approved in the Legislative Assembly Can be given. , for executive request

In March 2022, with the votes of 65 out of 84 deputies, the juvenile criminal law was reformed and established that minors who have turned 16 and have committed a crime will be jailed for up to 20 years; And if the minor was already 12 years old, he would have to stay in jail for 10 years.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, criticized these reforms at the time as it considered in a statement that toughening penalties is a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and that such measures do not solve the problem of gangs.

“Detention impacts their health and well-being, and evidence shows that imprisonment makes them more likely to drop out of school and commit crime later in life, leading to violence, exclusion,” UNICEF said in a statement. And the cycle of poverty continues.” Statement on April 7, 2022.

The El Salvador government has rejected the criticism and assured that emergency rule has allowed the country to transform from one of the most violent on the continent to one of the safest.