El Salvador adds US$16 million to current defense and security budget

The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador has strengthened the Ministries of Defense and Security with an extraordinary budget of US$16 million, distributed equally among each department.

According to the initiative’s explanation, the Security Department needs the funds to pay the food quota for 25,978 police officers. In contrast, the Defense Department needs them for commitments related to goods and services for Phase IV of the Territorial Control Plan.

All this is part of President Nayib Bukele’s offensive, which has been waging war against criminal gangs since late March.

At that time, the legislative body also approved an exemption, which is renewed every month and has already been renewed at least six times, to facilitate the capture and detention of suspected criminals by waiving some of the rights of citizens.

INCREASE THE BUDGET

Near the end of last Tuesday’s plenary session, the Legislature passed a series of reforms for the 2022 budget that would strengthen various state agencies through alleged surpluses in tax collection.

The bill’s content provided for the distribution of US$56 million among eight different institutions, with the goal of “addressing priority needs in various units of the non-financial public sector that require coverage from the budget,” according to the initiative.

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