Bukele sentenced a gang member to 1,310 years in prison

A court in El Salvador has convicted 1,310 years in prison for a member of Mara Salvatrucha’s gang for various crimes, as reported on Tuesday on his social networks by the attorney general, Rodolfo Delgado.

Regard Wilmer Segoviaof the well-known Shulton cell, which “was found guilty of committing 33 homicides9 proposals to commit murders and several extortions,” according to Delgado.

“The gang members who have caused so much pain and tears to the Salvadoran people, WILL NOT COME OUT. They will remain locked up until they pay for each of their crimes. We will deal with them,” he stressed on Twitter.

He added that Miguel Ángel Portillo, from the aforementioned MS13 cell, he was sentenced to 945 years in prison for “22 homicides, 4 proposed murders, attempted murder and extortion”.

The Salvadoran prosecutor did not provide details on the date of the detainees’ capture or whether they were captured under the emergency regime, which suspends constitutional guarantees, in force since March 2022.

Nor did he explain whether they were convicted under the penal reforms approved by the Legislative Assembly in an emergency regime.

El Salvador’s fight against crime has been questioned by some and lauded by others. In recent days, President Bukele has received strong criticism for the mega-prison that he inaugurated and which has a capacity of over 40,000 inmates.

The interim deputy director of the American Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Juan Pappier, said that El Salvador was going through an “authoritarian debacle”, adding that the situation “would only be overcome by a country with a military coup”. état and by the Taliban”.

For his part, the president celebrated on his Twitter account that his country has gone from being “the most insecure country in the world, safest in Latin America”.