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. you need a certain level of temperature to make clouds.

and on thursday, that temperature was 17 degrees. from a blue sky, sunny start to the day across the yorkshire area, as we hit 17, we started to get these cumulus clouds. as the air started to rise, it hit a layer of warm air higher up in the earth's atmosphere and that cloud then started to spread out. and by the time we got to the early afternoon, it turned pretty cloudy and that kind of thing you can see happening here on the satellite picture from thursday, look how this area of cloud just expands through the course of the afternoon, showing you that because probably going to see a similar sort of thing happening on friday, as well. now, right now, quite a few patches of cloud still across areas of lincolnshire. otherwise, for most of us, we've got clear skies and temperatures around seven to nine degrees celsius. now on friday, for many of us, it's going to be a sunny start to the day with those blue skies with us first thing in the morning — late morning, that's when we hit 17 degrees. that's when we start to see clouds develop. and i think probably parts of yorkshire again prone

to seeing some of those clouds spreading across the skies. same too probably across parts of the north midlands, northwest scotland have a bit more cloud, a few more breaks for northern ireland. for most, it's a dry day with sunny spells and temperatures still into the low twenties and the warmer spots. it will feel pleasant if you're outside. into the weekend, we do have a cold front that's going to be running into our area of high pressure that will be affecting northern areas. so expect more in the way of cloud for scotland. a bit of patchy rain too for 0rkney, shetland, the western isles and the highlands too. and this air flowing into north scotland, it's actually quite chilly, so temperatures just 12 degrees through the afternoon in lerwick on saturday. further south, more sunshine and if anything it's going to be a warmer day with more of us seeing temperatures into the low twenties, probably peaking at around 23 or 2a degrees. heading into sunday, the high pressure is still there. and again, it's a case of sunny spells coming and going with the cloud. the highest temperatures continue to be across more western areas.

so south and east wales, the south west midlands, south west england, highs could hit around 23 or 2a degrees, but otherwise starting to turn just a little bit cooler across northern and eastern areas. that's the case as well for bank holiday monday. temperatures just down a few degrees, but still feeling warm in that strong may sunshine. that's your weather, bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. as russian mercenaries from the wagner group say they are pulling out of bakhmut, bbc verify reveals the extent of the destruction caused by months of fighting. could there be movement in the us debt talks? the new york times reports the white house and republicans are closing in on a deal. and far—right militia leader stewart rhodes gets 18 years in prison for his role in the january 6th attack. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. we start in ukraine, where officials there have dismissed claims that the city

of bakhmut has fallen to russia, after wagner mercenaries said they'd begun