Since the implementation of the exception regime in March 2022, the Government of El Salvador has intensified security actions aimed at dismantling gang structures. According to the most recent report of the Security Cabinet, until June 30, 2025, 87,088 captures of gang members throughout the country are counted.
In the first semester of 2025, the authorities report a monthly average of 471 arrests, adding more than 2,800 gang members apprehended so far this year. During these operations, drugs, weapons, cash and vehicles linked to illegal activities were also seized.
The Minister of Security, Gustavo Villatoro, reiterated that the regime is considered “the best legal tool” to combat criminal structures. “We will not rest until you get the last gangs out from the streets that continues to harm the population,” he said.
Since its approval by the Legislative Assembly – at the request of President Nayib Bukele after an escalation of homicides recorded in March 2022 – the measure has been renewed monthly. In its first 47 days, 28,500 arrests were already counted and an average of 600 daily catches.
The report also details that by January 2023 the total captured was 62,975, a figure that increased to 74,861 at the end of that year. In September 2024, the 81,000 arrests were exceeded, and for the closing of that year the figure reached 84,260.
Citizen support
Although the exception regime has been criticized by opposition sectors and human rights defenders, the measure continues to have the majority support of the population. A recent survey of the University Institute of Public Opinion of the UCA (IUDOP) granted an average rating of 7.78 to the government’s security strategy and reflected that 60 % of citizens support the continuity of the regime.
The authorities have insisted that this policy has allowed to recover control of territories historically dominated by gangs and reduce violence rates in the country.
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