El Salvador leader warns he’ll cut all food for gang inmates after wave of killings
- A recent spate of homicides prompted President Nayib Bukele to declare a state of emergency, with some 6,000 street gang members rounded up
- The move has sparked fears of human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and degrading treatment of detainees
El Salvador’s president threatened on Tuesday to stop providing food for imprisoned gang members as he continued his crackdown following a wave of killings that led to a state of emergency and implementation of measures that have drawn international condemnation.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony for new police officers and soldiers, President Nayib Bukele said that if the gangs “unleash a wave of crimes, we are going to cut off food in the prisons”.
“There are rumours that [the gangs] want to start taking revenge on random, honest people,” Bukele said. “If they do that, there won’t even be one meal in prisons. I swear to God they won’t eat a grain of rice, and let’s see how long they last.”
“They should stay calm and let themselves be arrested; at least on the inside they will continue to live and have two meals a day,” Bukele said.
Previously, Bukele had ordered food for gang members held in Salvadoran prisons be reduced to two meals per day, seized inmates’ mattresses and posted a video of prisoners being frogmarched through corridors and down stairs.
