Salvadoran Police. The number of people arrested in El Salvador in the context of the State of Exception security plan—implemented by the Nayib Bukele government to end gangs—amounts to more than 86,000, according to what the Minister of Defense of El Salvador, René Francis Merino Monroy, said on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.
He also stated that authorities have also seized 4,565 firearms, 10,451 vehicles, and 21,630 mobile phones.
Furthermore, Monroy remarked that authorities had intercepted 37.9 tons of drugs worth an estimated $920.4 million, along with $4.8 million in cash.
These results highlight the continued success of the State of Exception in reducing violence and enhancing national security. Francisco Merino Monroy, Minister of Defense of El Salvador.
The Bukele administration launched the State of Exception in March 2022 in response to a surge in gang-related killings that claimed 87 lives within just three days.
Up to this day, the Salvadoran legislature has consecutively approved the extension of the emergency regime 35 times, each for 30 days.
SEE ALSO: El Salvador State of Exception; A Security Measure Implemented to Fight Gangs
Human Rights Violations
Local and national human rights organizations claim that the State of Exception needs to end, as it has violated many individuals’ human rights. Cristosal, a local human rights organization, has released reports regarding these abuses.
Amnesty International for the Americas, in its statement for the two years of the State of Exception in El Salvador, assured that it can’t be “a success” to replace gang violence with state violence.
Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Cristosal claim that innocent individuals, including minors and elderly people, have been detained without evidence.
The government defends the crackdown as necessary to combat gangs, but critics argue it has led to widespread abuses and erosion of legal protections.
State of Exception Success
The controversial State of Exception has the approval of most Salvadorans; it is also credited with reducing the country’s homicide rate and achieving many days with zero homicides.
While local and international human rights organizations frequently criticize the State of Exception and advocate for its termination, the Bukele administration has reiterated its commitment to sustain it until every gang member is removed from the streets.
