The youths, aged 12 to 15, were detained after a video shared on the social media platform TikTok showed them flashing signs connected with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, according to police.

El Salvador’s penal code carries sentences between 20 to 40 years for gang membership, and 60 years for ring leaders. A 2023 reform by Bukele set prison sentences for children under the age of ...

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The minors, aged 12 to 15, were detained after a video shared on the social media platform TikTok, showed them flashing signs connected with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, according to police.

It comes amid a harsh gang crackdown by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. Following a wave of gang violence in 2022, Bukele declared a temporary state of emergency in the Central American ...