On 1 August 2023, President Nayib Bukele announced the deployment of 7,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers to the central Cabañas department to carry out a raid and detain gang members. Effective immediately, security personnel will be authorized to enforce state of emergency protocols — which have been in place since March 2022 — to detain those with suspected gang affiliations. Bukele has stated that security perimeters in Cabañas “will be maintained as long as the operatives can extract all the gang members.” Salvadoran security intelligence officials believe gang members from urban areas have fled to Cabañas in increasing numbers to avoid arrest since the beginning of the current anti-gang state of emergency