The government of El Salvador detained 1,194 minors during the state of emergency, said Gustavo Villatoro, Minister of Justice and Security of El Salvador on Thursday (22).
According to Villatoro, around 1,065 of those detained have already been convicted by the judicial system for belonging to gangs or for collaborating with criminal groups.
The state of emergency has been in force since the end of March 2022, in response to an increase in violence that resulted in 62 homicides in a single day.
Minors captured after video transmission
El Salvador's security office reported on Thursday that eight minors were detained in the Chalatenango region, about 83 kilometers from San Salvador.
Authorities said the teenagers, aged between 12 and 15, appear in a video shared on social media in which they are seen making gang gestures.
Six of the minors were captured on Tuesday (20), and another two on Sunday (18), but the details were only revealed this Thursday at a press conference.
Minister Villatoro warns that the work of “digital patrol” will continue.
Reforms increased sentences for minors
Security authorities point out that, in El Salvador, a young person between 12 and 18 years old can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, as a minimum sentence, for the crimes of criminal groups, following the reforms approved in the Legislative Assembly, at the request of the Executive. .
In March 2022, with the votes of 65 of the 84 deputies, the Juvenile Penal Law was reformed and it was established that minors who turned 16 and committed crimes would pay up to 20 years in prison; and if the minor was 12 years old, he would be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) criticized these reforms, because it considered that tougher penalties contravene the Convention on the Rights of the Child and that these types of measures do not solve the gang problem.
“Detention affects their health and well-being, and evidence shows that incarceration increases the chances of dropping out of school and committing a crime later in life, thus perpetuating cycles of violence, exclusion and poverty,” UNICEF said in a statement. statement of April 7, 2022.
The government of El Salvador rejected the criticism and guarantees that the emergency regime allowed the country to go from being one of the most violent to one of the safest on the continent.
Source: CNN Brasil
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