How El Salvador is Winning its Brutal War on Gangs

In 2023, El Salvador opened Cecot — the largest prison in the Americas. Built under President Nayib Bukele, it has become the symbol of his war on gangs. A new flagship jail, which the government calls its “terrorism confinement centre”, or Cecot, was built to house the deluge of inmates. Up to 100 were packed into each cell and banned from all communication with the outside world.

Homicide rates have plummeted, turning one of the world’s most dangerous countries into one of the safest in the region. But critics warn the cost is high: mass detentions, human rights abuses and the concentration of power in Bukele’s hands.

Now, leaders across Latin America — and even Washington — are watching closely. Could El Salvador’s “iron-fist” model become the blueprint for governments around the world?

The fall in crime in El Salvador has been stark. In 2015, there were 6,656 murders, almost one every hour, in a country the size of Wales, with a population of 6.4 million. In 2024, there were 114 murders — a 98 per cent decrease in a decade. Last month, the US State Department rated it a safer place to visit than the UK or France.

Much of the drop in the most serious crime has happened since 2022, when Nayib Bukele, the president, instigated a state of emergency, which remains in place. His decree heralded a no-holds barred assault on El Salvador’s gangs.

Government security forces were given carte blanche to make mass arrests without warrants. For weeks about 1,000 men a day were taken off the streets — imprisoned, without trial, merely on suspicion of being gang members.

00:00 Intro
01:00 From Chaos to Control
03:02 Ruling With An Iron Fist
06:16 The Export of Bukele-ism

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