As Latin America Looks To El Salvador's Success Against Gangs, Critics Point To Deals With the Devil

As Latin America Looks to El Salvador’s Success Against Gangs, Critics Point to Deals With the Devil EL SALVADOR Tourists now throng El Tunco beach on the Pacific Ocean in El Salvador, a change from only a few years ago, when gangsters robbed or extorted visitors seeking sun and waves. The shift happened after hardline President Nayib Bukele declared war on his country’s gangs and locked up tens of thousands of suspected members. As a result, 4.1 million tourists visited the Central American country last year, 60 percent more than in 2019 – before Bukele assumed office – lured by the country’s beaches, volcanoes, lush forests and archeological sites. Recently, as part of this “tourism boom,” some visitors came to see blockbuster singer Shakira, who held five concerts in the capital, San Salvador, as part of Bukele’s efforts to rebrand the once-violent country. “El Salvador is changing and Central America too,” the president wrote on X, where he regularly posts videos of surfers riding giant waves in the Pacific. However, the drop in crime could be celebrated without hesitation if Bukele hadn’t flung aside human rights in his state of emergency and crackdown to achieve it, say observers. In the mid-2010s, homicide rates in El Salvador topped 100 per 100,000 people, a rate commensurate with war zones. Today, they have decreased by 98 percent. In between, Bukele has locked up 91,000 people, reported the Associated Press. About 8,000 innocent individuals have since been released. Many of those people were imprisoned without due process, including without access to a lawyer. Hundreds have died before their day in court. Journalists who have attempted to document the situation have fled the country, too, according to author and journalist Ioan Grillo, who tracks narco-crime in the region. A group of prisoners’ relatives said Shakira’s “Women No Longer Cry” tour was being used by Bukele to “cover up injustice and his reprehensible acts.” “In El Salvador, women, mothers and relatives of innocent victims who suffer imprisonment, torture, and death, forced evictions, persecution, and rigged trials also weep,” they wrote in an open letter to the singer. Still, the results of Bukele’s crackdown have made the president popular at home. “The people want it,” said Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa in a recent interview. “They feel protected.” The crackdown has also led other countries in the region struggling to contain criminal gangs, such as Costa Rica and Honduras, to consider implementing such measures. Recently, Bukele visited Costa Rica after being invited by President Rodrigo Chaves for the groundbreaking of a new prison inspired by the 40,000-capacity Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, which Bukele built to house gang members. “(It’s) a radical change,” López, a 44-year-old engineer who came from Limón, a Caribbean port in Costa Rica battered by drug traffickers, told Costa Rica’s Tico Times. “We’d like to take this step.” But while the Salvadoran president appears to have triumphed over gangs, World Politics Review posited that his security forces deserve less credit for the drop in crime than he might want his constituents to believe. Rather, Bukele had reached a détente with the most powerful gang leaders, granting them prison privileges in exchange for reducing violence. In fact, American officials slapped sanctions on Bukele’s prisons chief for working with organized crime to sell Covid-19 relief aid on the black market, Reuters noted. Honduras tried to copy Bukele’s state of emergency and harsh anti-crime measures but failed to achieve the same results, El País wrote. The experience suggests gang crackdowns in Central America may not work as well as supporters of the strategy hope, except in regions where authorities have reached accords with gangs to maintain local security. The security achieved by El Salvador has not brought much in the way of peace dividends either. Poverty remains endemic while living costs have steadily risen, despite Bukele’s efforts to leverage cryptocurrency to expand the economy. Bukele says it’s just a matter of time before the economy improves. He also dismisses criticism of his methods, saying the results were worth it. “I don’t care that they call me dictator,” he said last year. “I prefer they call me dictator than see how they kill Salvadorans in the streets. … Salvadorans can finally live in peace. Let them keep arguing semantics, we’re going to continue to be focused on results.”