President criticises "human rights" NGOs following police fatality

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador condemned Western nonprofits voicing concerns over his government's crackdown on criminal gangs, after a police officer was killed in an ambush. He called out the "human rights" crowd for saying nothing, as they only care about the rights of criminals. He promised to continue the state of emergency until the plague of gangs is "completely eliminated," and celebrated a full 365 days with zero homicides in El Salvador, a nation of 6.5 million on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. His comments came in the wake of an ambush on Tuesday in which one member of the National Police was killed by members of a criminal gang in Nueva Concepcion, a town in the northern province of Chalatenango. President Bukele declared a state of emergency in March 2022, launching a war on "terrorist" criminal gangs such as MS-13 and Barrio 18.

His government has jailed over 65,000 suspected gang members, most of whom are awaiting trial, and commissioned a maximum security mega-prison that can hold up to 40,000. Western governments and NGOs have criticized the crackdown as violating the human rights of suspected criminals and turning El Salvador into a "police state".