True Cost of El Salvador’s War on Gangs Still Being Tallied

The escalation of El Salvador's gang crackdown in the central city of Soyapango has raised severe questions as to whether gang members are really still being rooted out and what President Nayib Bukele's true endgame might be.

Beginning on December 3, around 10,000 police and military personnel entered Soyapango, a city of around 250,000 people to the east of the capital, San Salvador. Allegedly seeking gang members, security force personnel blocked roads, checked the identities of passers-by and drivers, particularly young men, and temporarily put a halt to almost any means of entering or leaving the city. 

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