El Salvador President Nayib Bukele says security sustainable without a state of emergency

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Nearly 2½ years into a state of emergency that has suspended key civil liberties in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele says the security advances achieved are sustainable without what was supposed to be a temporary measure.

Each month, El Salvador's congress, which is comfortably controlled by Bukele's New Ideas party and its allies, approves another extension of the state of emergency. The justification from officials is that more needs to be done to eliminate the country's once-powerful street gangs.

"In the near future, we hope to lift the state of exception, return to normal constitutional processes, and maintain the peace we've achieved through regular judicial and law enforcement activities," Bukele told Time magazine in an interview published Thursday.

More than 81,000 people have been arrested and jailed without due process. Human rights organizations have denounced deaths in custody of people and many arrests of people without gang ties. But improved security has changed people’s lives in El Salvador after years of living under the thumb of gangs.

In the interview, Bukele put some numbers on the path to lifting the suspension of some civil liberties, including access to a lawyer, being allowed to gather and to be informed of one's rights.

The president said his administration estimated there were 8,000 to 9,000 gang members left, noting that some of those may have fled the country. Once there were only 3,000 or 4,000, Bukele said the gangs wouldn't be able to muster enough people to re-form.

Bukele is very active on social platforms and has an extensive communications team to get out his message, but rarely sits for interviews.

Bukele also said that he would not seek reelection to a third consecutive term. El Salvador's constitution bars reelection, but Bukele received a favorable interpretation from the Supreme Court in 2021 that cleared the way for his reelection in February.

"We have an agreement with my wife that this is my last term," he said in the interview.