voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. reporters speak in spanish. it was once the murder capital of the world. cries. for decades, rival gangs ruled the streets of el salvador through violence, extortion and fear. until now. for a year, the country's media—savvy president has declared war on gangs...

..imposing emergency security measures and giving police sweeping powers of arrest. thousands are now behind bars. and the country is transforming before people's eyes. but there's a dark underside hidden from view. human rights groups are dismayed, as are relatives, as thousands have been arbitrarily arrested. peace may have come to el salvador, but at what price?

teacher audelia has lived here since the late 1990s — la campanera in the capital's notorious soyapango district.

more than 20 years ago, rival gangs the ms—13 and the 18th street gang took control of neighbourhoods across the country. they became, in effect, no—go areas for outsiders and the police. thousands were murdered or caught in the crossfire. and in those years of the growth of the gangs, can you explain to us what it was like living here?

but in the last 12 months, audelia has witnessed the change on these streets that she never thought possible.

for the past year, el salvador has been living under an emergency measure called the state of exception. police and military have been mobilised in vast numbers and some constitutional rights suspended. defeating the gangs was one of the main election promises of nayib bukele, a former marketing executive turned president. so, what's the policy meant on the streets? in the suburbs of san salvador, another security patrol is about to set off. every day for a year, dozens of police, soldiers and elite troops have been sent into the back streets of the capital, carrying lists.

they search anyone with a possible profile or tattoos of a gang member. it's alleged that some officers have been given daily quotas for arrests. others are sent to specific houses, often using anonymous tip—offs. dog barks. this neighbour explains the person they're looking for has already been arrested. but this ruthless new security policy has not brought peace to everyone in el salvador.

in this small rural community, i've come to meet marcela. she tells me about the moment the police swept into their village last year. her sonjose duval was working in the fields. jose was arrested under a charge being widely used by the police during

this crackdown. unlawful association has been criticised by human rights organisations for its broad interpretation. it justifies arrest on the grounds of being even indirectly connected with a gang. did he have any gang affiliation that they accuse him of?

this is like a petition, signed by members of the community tojose duval�*s good character, to his lack of involvement in any gang activity, signed by all of the neighbours in the village. there must be 100 or so of them, and she says she has more inside. do you have any information at all about how he's doing inside?

have you been able to see him at all? marcela's greatest fear is that jose may end up here, a new mega prison built to house gang members. president bukele ensured these carefully choreographed images made headlines across the globe. more than 65,000 people have been arrested in just 12

months, making el salvador�*s prison population proportionally the highest in the world. do you think that you will have the strength to get through these next months? marcela is not alone. it's the one year anniversary of the state of exception. in the capital, hundreds of families are taking to the streets. chanting. they say that their loved ones have been detained arbitrarily in flagrant abuse of their human rights and of the constitution.

they say they haven't heard from them, have no information about them, and simply don't know when or if they will ever be let out again — and there are people here who've lost loved ones in prison, too.

outside the national assembly building, the protesters call for the release of their detained relatives. yelling. they can only imagine the poor conditions inside the prisons. but one woman has agreed to talk about her experience. dolores, a union leader and single mum, was at home when she received an unexpected knock at the door.

do you think your arrest was related to your union activities? dolores was not told the grounds of her arrest — one of the rights suspended under the state of exception. it wasn't until days later that she realised she was being charged with unlawful association. soon after, she was sent to prison. can you tell me what that experience was like?

while dolores was in prison, her teenage daughter had to care for her five siblings. union members protested tirelessly against her sentence. after seven months, she was released. the government says that the international committee of the red cross makes regular visits to assess prison conditions. critics say targeting union leaders like dolores shows the president is using the emergency measure to undermine potential opposition. i put this to his vice—president, felix ulloa, in an exclusive interview. you have made it sound very innocent, very light,

but the truth is, it grants some extremely draconian powers to the police, that they can arrest you merely on an anonymous phone call, merely for having tattoos, merely for suspecting that you have an association with illicit gang activity. what you said is not true. i mean, the police, didn't go, or didn't went to the communities to capture people because they have tattoo, or because there is an anonymous phone call, no. it's not like that. this is a lie that has been spread overfor the political position in el salvador. the truth is that when the police go to capture a person in a community, it's because they have the profile. nevertheless, human rights organisations and many others, including the families of many of those who been arrested, say they have been arrested with absolutely no link to gain crime, that there are thousands of people in prison.

it could be, when you handle an operation of this size, there will be some mistakes and some people could be arrested with no link with the gangs. and how do you feel about that? you are admitting on camera that there are thousands of people, potentially thousands of people innocent. and thousands of people have been released. we are aware, as you said, that some people, probably innocent people could be part, but as i said, the perfect is enemy of the good. we are doing something really good, appreciated by the population, over 90% of the population agree with the state of exception, and they want to be extended. his policy has brought bukele unprecedented levels of support in el salvador. with a series of high—impact, headline—grabbing orders captured by his well—oiled media machine, mr bukele is now trying to wipe away any trace of the gangs from public view,

even destroying gravestones with gang symbols on them. hundreds of former gang safe houses are also being reclaimed. with the help of low—interest loans, they are passed on to localfamilies, like audelia's. if the president does stand for re—election, will you vote for him?

100 kilometres away, marcela is also taking me to see a new house. hola. it's the one her sonjose was building for his wife, his daughter and the baby son he is yet to meet, born after he was sent to prison.

despite opponents saying it's unconstitutional, president bukele is expected to stand for re—election in 202a. his security crackdown should make him unassailable at the polls. but are thousands of families like marcela's paying the price?

hello there.

the weather remains quiet at the moment with more cloud for scotland and sunshine for wales. high—pressure dominates and sits right over the uk and that weather front which has been bringing some rain in scotland and northern ireland will be weakening and so the rain will go very light and patchy but we will keep cloud in many areas of scotland and northern ireland and perhaps sunshine in the north—west. best of the sunshine although some cloud coming in of the north sea affecting south—eastern and southern parts of england. in the sunshine the temperature will reach 20 or 21 degrees again on sunday but if anything it may be a little cooler than it was on saturday across scotland and northern ireland, even with some sunshine in the north—west. the area of high pressure still dominates another weak weather front heading into the north—west of the uk for monday. a little rain on that not much moving away leaving one or two showers for western scotland and perhaps northern ireland. england and wales are still dry on monday with a great deal of

sunshine, perhaps more of a northerly breeze and the temperature still reaches 17 degrees in glasgow and perhaps 20, 21 across parts of england and wales. pleasantly warm in the sunshine. high—pressure is still around as we head into tuesday and that is the surface pressure chart. a higher, in the atmosphere, things are colder and more unstable which is why we could just see one or two showers coming into the midlands and eastern england on tuesday, despite what looks like high—pressure. we will have more of a breeze coming into the north—west of scotland bringing more cloud in here but the temperatures are not really changing too much. 16— 20 celsius on tuesday, perhaps a little lower than monday for england where we are seeing more cloud. we may well find another weather front coming into the north—west of uk in time for wednesday. some rain for the northernmost parts of scotland but otherwise drive, possibly a few spots of rain coming into northern ireland later with more cloud. england and while still bubbling up a little through the day and

spreading out but in the sunshine it will feel pleasant with temperatures of 19— 20 degrees, cooler in the north—west of the uk with the cloud and the patchy rain. that moves away and high—pressure again reestablished by thursday so keeping it dryjust about everywhere. a little breezy and the far north of the uk and there could be showers in the north—west of scotland. northern ireland looks dry although fairly cloudy sunshine for england and wales and the high temperature getting pushed down towards southern parts of england and wales and again reaching 20, 20 one celsius. very quiet over the week ahead, probably staying much the same as we look further ahead into the following weekend. we will find more weather fronts perhaps coming down from the north—west mainly affecting scotland and northern ireland and essentially high—pressure will be sitting across much of the uk keeping it dry. there is no really hot weather coming our way for the outlook and if anything the signs of something anything the signs of something a little cooler at times in the

north—west but otherwise if you look at our sitting forecast for the outlook, temperatures will be pretty much what they should be at this time of year. average temperatures you will pick up from that there is a lot of dry weather around and there will be some sunshine at times. breezy in the finals of uk and perhaps through the english channel otherwise it will be light

live from washington, this is bbc news. president zelensky meets with world leaders on the final day of the g7 summit injapan. the defence ministry in moscow says wagner mercenaries, with the support of russian troops, have taken full control of the battleground city of bakhmut. claims ukraine denies. the celebrated british author, martin amis, has died at the age of 73. and in sport, as manchester city win the premier league for the third year in a row, our analysis editor ros atkins takes a look at the problems the club faces off the pitch.