San Salvador, El Salvador (AP) – El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Ordered the police via the social media on Monday to arrest five bus companies in the country of Central America after having challenged its order to offer free transport for a week after a major motorway closure.
Order was another example of Bukele's heavy tactics. The second mandate chief was accused of having undermined democratic institutions, punishing dissidents and refusing access to regular procedure under a “State of emergency” that he declared in 2022 to fight against the powerful street gangs of the country. Despite the repression, the The government has denied The country is a police state.
Bukele announced via X on Sunday that all bus prices for a week would be completely free due to the construction that the government made on one of the main highways crossing San Salvador.
The order led to a chaos generalized on Monday, fueling the long bus lines in the Salvadorian capital and the overcrowded buses which jumped stops on a certain number of routes.
In response, Bukele ordered the capture of five bus managers on Monday, accusing them of “sabotaging the country”. He said the government covered “100% of the income they normally receive per day”, but the Associated Press was not immediately able to check the information with the bus drivers.
“The national civilian police should arrest the owners of the involved routes,” wrote Bukele on an article on social networks. “No one is above the law.”
Later Monday, the country's federal police service published photos of the handcuffed men surrounded by strongly armed officers, saying that they had been detained for “violation of duty, refusal of help and extortion”, providing few details on their arrests.
The National Transport Committee, which represents the companies involved, said in a statement that they had been surprised by the arrests. They blamed the confusion on certain routes that the free rides had been announced one day earlier and that they could not inform everyone.
Luis Regalado, member of the commercial group, said that many drivers are paid daily and did not know how they would be paid or by whom.
Lucio Vázquez, the group's secretary, called on Bukele, saying that they had been partners with his administration. “We are not saying that we are not going to continue to offer free service,” he said.
It comes when Bukele obtained an international projector for Hold more than 200 Venezuelan deportees United States in a “mega-prison” for gangs despite objections of American judges and human rights groups.
Bukele, who has a popularity in Salvador because of his severe repression of the country's gangs, has been the victim of strong criticisms for years by world leaders, lawyers and human rights groups, who accuse him of refusing citizens regular procedure, violating the constitution of the country by asking for a re -election and consolidation of citizens.
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