Chronology of the pact between the Bukele government and the gangs

In May 2022, thanks mainly to an audio recording in which Carlos Marroquín spoke with an MS-13 leader during that bloody weekend, El Faro was able to reveal the reasons for that violent situation. Prior to the massacre, members of the Police stopped a government vehicle in which MS-13 leaders were traveling, and captured them. The gang gave a 72-hour ultimatum to have them released. After their demand was not met, they massacred 87 Salvadorans. That weekend, after almost three years of secret agreements between gang members and the Bukele administration, the dialogue ceased. The exception regime is still in force this January 2023, and Bukele assures that he will end the gangs. More than 60,000 people have been captured in ten months and all legal proceedings have been completely reserved. Hundreds of those people had no gang involvement. When there are still many pieces to fit into the agreement with the gangs that Bukele made, huge doubts are raised for the future: will Bukele achieve his goal of ending the gangs? Do the gangs still have the strength to respond in a murderous way as they did against the government of Sánchez Cerén in 2015? Will they mutate to become another type of criminal group?…