Amid a wide-reaching government crackdown on organized criminal groups in the country, almost 2 percent of El Salvador's adult population has been detained and at least 18 people have died in police custody, according to a new report from the human rights group Amnesty International.
The crackdown was initiated by President Nayib Bukele in March. It is aimed at suspected members of MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, and Barrio 18, both of which are street gangs that emerged in El Salvador following waves of mass deportations of Salvadoran immigrants from the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.
