Almost 69 percent of detainees are accused of belonging to the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, officials say. Rights groups have denounced arbitrary arrest of many people, including minors, with no gang links.
The reform to the penal code applies to those who "reproduce and transmit messages or communications originating or allegedly originating from" the criminal groups.
El Salvador has enacted a state of emergency to fight a new spike in homicides while thousands of Haitians demonstrate against a lack of governmental support to protect their population from gangs.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, grappling with a recent wave of prison killings, had ordered the army and the police on Tuesday to take full control of the country's 27 prisons, which are badly overcrowded with some 21,000 inmates.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for all latest in-depth, on the ground reporting from around the world.
Copyright © 2023 TRT World.
Like
Follow