The Salvadoran government has begun destroying the tombstones of gang members like MS-13 to prevent them from becoming places of worship and has asked people to report their location.
“In El Salvador there is NO place for terrorists,” Deputy Justice Minister Osiris Luna wrote on Thursday. on his Twitter accountexplaining that the decision to destroy the tombstones of the criminals was to prevent the gang members from “honoring” their fallen comrades.
Call to the population to denounce the graves
The tombstones were destroyed on Tuesday and Wednesday, as part of the All Saints’ Day festivities, in a municipal cemetery in the town of Santa Tecla, 10 km west of San Salvador.
However, the remains of the deceased were left in the graves. The government has so far not specified how many tombstones of gang members have been destroyed.
The Vice Minister of Justice accompanied his message with several photographs showing tombstones with the inscription MS-13, an acronym for the Mara Salvatrucha gang, one of the most violent in El Salvador.
In his tweet, Osiris Luna asks the population to report the location of the gang members’ graves in order to proceed with their destruction.
“Send us a photo and the location of any terrorist remains in the cemeteries,” he asked in his message.
More than 55,000 suspected members of criminal gangs, the feared “maras”, have been arrested in El Salvador since the proclamation at the end of March by President Nayib Bukele of the “war” against these gangs that sow terror in the country.
Source: BFM TV
