After several months of surpassing the 20-day mark without murders, August had one of the worst performances of the year despite increased controls against gang members, drug traffickers and other scenarios where there are still at least 8,000 criminals hidden, according to government reports.

PNC data show that this Sunday, September 1, ended with no deaths caused by violence, adding one more day to this statistic so far this year and bringing the number of days free of gang-related murders since January to 175.

Despite the existence of remnants of the groups, President Nayib Bukele announced in an interview with the U.S. magazine Time that he will discard the main tool to deal with the problem, the emergency regime, ‘as soon as possible’.

Since Bukele took office, in five years, the country counts 693 days with zero murders, of which 580 were achieved under the exception regime approved in March 2022 and still in force.

These statistics confirm the effectiveness of security plans such as the Territorial Control Plan and the exception regime, which also allowed the detention of more than 81,000 alleged gang members and collaborators.

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