El Salvador extends emergency powers to fight gangs

FILE PHOTO: A soldier patrols at the 22 de Abril neighborhood after El Salvador's Congress approved on Sunday emergency powers that temporarily suspended some constitutional protections after the Central American country recorded a sharp rise in killings attributed to criminal gangs, in San Salvador, Soyapango, March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's Congress on Sunday approved a month-long extension of emergency measures that rights groups say infringe civil liberties but which President Nayib Bukele has said are necessary after a surge of gang killings.

The measures, which enact emergency powers to limit some constitutional rights, went into effect late last month after the Central American country registered 62 homicides in one day - the highest toll in two decades.