Defendants on video links as they attend the trial of 486 alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, accused of more than 47,000 crimes committed between 2012 and 2022, at the Judicial Center Against Organized Crime in Soyapango, El Salvador, on April 21, 2026. Jose Cabezas/Reuters
A mass trial of 486 alleged members of El Salvador’s most notorious gang, the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, got underway in the Salvadoran capital, San Salvador, on April 21.
It is the biggest trial since Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele enacted emergency powers to take on the country’s organized crime groups.
