War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep.

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep.

By MEGAN JANETSKY and FERNANDA PESCE Associated Press SOYAPANGO, El Salvador (AP) — With semiautomatic weapons pressed to their chest, a pack of camouflage-clad police officers marches through rows of small brick homes winding up hills on the fringes of El Salvador’s capital. They rap sharply on door after door, pushing into homes with dozing teenagers listening to music or toddlers eating breakfast and watching cartoons. Stepping foot in La C…

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador — For the family of 44-year-old Maritza Pacheco, opening a corner shop outside their home four months ago was a small miracle. Pacheco had lived like many in El Salvador’s capital: in constant panic. Warring gangs — MS-13 and Barrio 18 — would send gunfire ringing out over flimsy tin-sheet homes, terrorizing and extorting poor communities like hers. Her family isolated themselves, determined not to get sucked into the lawl…

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep

One year ago, President Nayib Bukele suspended constitutional rights and started an all-out offensive on gangs

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador — For the family of 44-year-old Maritza Pacheco, opening a corner shop outside their home four months ago was a small miracle.

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep.

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador (AP) — With semiautomatic weapons pressed to their chest, a pack...

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep.

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador (AP) — With semiautomatic weapons pressed to their chest, a pack of camouflage-clad police officers marches through rows of small brick homes winding up hills on the fringes of El Salvador’s capital.