Controversy in El Salvador over a video game inspired by President Bukele’s “war” against gangs

The territorial control plan drawn up by the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele motivated a group of young people to create a video game for Android phones called “Phase Extraction”.

In the video game, the police capture gang members through a game, sparking controversy among supporters and opponents of the president whose actions against gangs, especially the Mara Salvatrucha, have sent thousands to prison since 2019.

“The truth is that the game does not seem very suitable to me. What matters now is to overcome violence, not encourage it, and the video game, in my opinion, encourages it ”, Néstor Molina, an employee of a network maintenance company and a regular at online games, told AFP.

The game, which has had “more than 10,000 downloads” in its first week, is in beta (test) version and is based on the “war” against gangs, which thanks to a The emergency regime has led to mass raids and the imprisonment of 67,000 suspected gang members. However, the Catholic Church, the UN and human rights organizations have criticized Bukele’s methods.

On screen a avatar resembles the president wearing a cap with the visor pulled back and holding a firearm which he faces other characters who are gang members.

“Be a part of history, the war against the diabolical gangs has begun!” says the video game “Territorial Control Plan: Extraction”, which can be Free to install on mobile phones and developed by Restless Games Studio.

Participants can put themselves “in the shoes of a seasoned specialist soldier, an elite police element” and even in the “Commander General of the Armed Forces” (Bukele).

overcrowded prisoners

The application is named after the “territorial control plan” launched by Bukele when he came to power in June 2019, which includes measures to prevent violence with actions in areas such as education, culture and sports.

For several weeks now, the police authorities of El Salvador have confirmed that there are no more murders in the country.

More than 2,000 gang members are already trapped in a mega-prison, 70 kilometers from the Salvadoran capital, which was created to house 40,000 inmates. In February, in a video shared by the president on Twitter, many gang members can be seen with their bare torsos, wearing only white shorts and bare feet, guarded by police officers and lined up in a large courtyard.