<p>Hundreds of handcuffed Salvadoran gang members were displayed before assembled reporters on Saturday, a vivid show of President Nayib Bukele's policy of confronting them and the violent crime they are accused of committing.</p>.<p>Some 600 members of El Salvador's Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and its rival Barrio 18 made up the bulk of the detentions that were announced on Friday, following a one-week US-backed round-up of Central American gangs that also netted arrests in neighboring Guatemala and Honduras.</p>.<p>The detainees paraded before the press on Saturday, a common tactic that predates Bukele, have been charged with murder, kidnapping and human trafficking, among other crimes, according to officials.</p>.<p>In April, Bukele provoked the ire of rights groups when he published on social media jarring pictures of hundreds of semi-naked jailed gang members, pressed tightly together in rows, despite the raging pandemic.</p>.<p>At the time, the inmates were being punished for an outbreak of violence.</p>.<p>Security Minister Rogelio Rivas called the majority of the newly-detained "terrorists" in remarks after they were assembled in an open-air plaza by heavily-armed soldiers, nearly all the detainees wearing masks and with their faces, many tattooed, looking down.</p>.<p>Government figures show that the murder rate has fallen by nearly half so far this year compared to the same period last year, which Bukele argues is due to a larger military and police presence on streets as well as in jails believed to be controlled by the gangs.</p>.<p>In September, online news site El Faro published an investigation revealing an alleged negotiation between the government and MS-13 over reducing homicides in exchange for other benefits, including electoral support for Bukele, an accusation the president has denied.</p>.<p>The latest round-up could be meant to refute the idea that the government is negotiating with the gangs, security analyst Jeanette Aguilar said in an interview.</p>
<p>Hundreds of handcuffed Salvadoran gang members were displayed before assembled reporters on Saturday, a vivid show of President Nayib Bukele's policy of confronting them and the violent crime they are accused of committing.</p>.<p>Some 600 members of El Salvador's Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and its rival Barrio 18 made up the bulk of the detentions that were announced on Friday, following a one-week US-backed round-up of Central American gangs that also netted arrests in neighboring Guatemala and Honduras.</p>.<p>The detainees paraded before the press on Saturday, a common tactic that predates Bukele, have been charged with murder, kidnapping and human trafficking, among other crimes, according to officials.</p>.<p>In April, Bukele provoked the ire of rights groups when he published on social media jarring pictures of hundreds of semi-naked jailed gang members, pressed tightly together in rows, despite the raging pandemic.</p>.<p>At the time, the inmates were being punished for an outbreak of violence.</p>.<p>Security Minister Rogelio Rivas called the majority of the newly-detained "terrorists" in remarks after they were assembled in an open-air plaza by heavily-armed soldiers, nearly all the detainees wearing masks and with their faces, many tattooed, looking down.</p>.<p>Government figures show that the murder rate has fallen by nearly half so far this year compared to the same period last year, which Bukele argues is due to a larger military and police presence on streets as well as in jails believed to be controlled by the gangs.</p>.<p>In September, online news site El Faro published an investigation revealing an alleged negotiation between the government and MS-13 over reducing homicides in exchange for other benefits, including electoral support for Bukele, an accusation the president has denied.</p>.<p>The latest round-up could be meant to refute the idea that the government is negotiating with the gangs, security analyst Jeanette Aguilar said in an interview.</p>