Members of the Salvadoran police have been killed by the dozens in each of the past three years, most in attacks blamed on MS-13.
Salvadoran police officers take part in an operation in San Salvador in January to arrest suspected leaders of MS-13. By Kevin Sieff Kevin Sieff Latin America Correspondent Email Bio Follow March 3 at 6:21 PM SAN SALVADOR — They were given one of the most dangerous tasks in policing: Take down MS-13.
The exodus of Salvadoran police points to how the country’s security forces have failed to break the stranglehold of organized crime. It also shows that among those seeking refuge in the United States during the Trump administration are some of America’s closest security partners. “The Salvadoran government, with U.S. government support, has made significant gains in the area of security, including reductions in homicides and every other category of violent crime measured,” the State Department said in a statement issued in response to an inquiry by The Post.
El Salvador’s government adopted an “iron fist” response to the gangs, including more police operations. When that approach failed, it tried to broach a truce with the gangs in 2014. The pact quickly disintegrated and was followed by another surge in violence. It was then that the gangs began to explicitly broadcast their threats against police officers.
The police investigated a number of the killings since 2014 and found members of the major gangs responsible. Many units in the Salvadoran police are forbidden to wear balaclavas to conceal their identities. In anti-gang units, officers are allowed to wear such masks during operations, but they are frequently asked to testify in court, where they must show their faces and identify themselves by name while gang members look on.
Suspects are detained by police in a neighborhood in San Salvador dominated by MS-13. Many officers, feeling unprotected by their own force, have said their only option is to leave the country.
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