The law stipulates that security work can only be carried out by agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) of which 22 thousand troops will be deployed during voting day and later in March when the municipal elections will take place.

However, dozens of military personnel have already been deployed in different parts of the capital, as this correspondent was able to confirm during a tour near the Cuscatlán park, around the Rosales hospital and in areas of the historic center, among others.

Quoted by the media, Gabriela Santos, director of the Human Rights Institute of the UCA (Idhuca), declared that in a country like El Salvador, which comes from an armed conflict, the use of the military for public security functions is worrying, despite the fact that it is something that has been normalized.

“What is the intention behind this deployment: to generate anxiety, to intimidate, to bet on repression,” the academic asked.

She stated that the use of uniformed officers cannot be seen as positive because in the context of the emergency regime they committed sexual abuses against girls and even, she asserted, made excessive use of their power.

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