El Salvador ceases to be "world's death capital" after making 72,000 arrests

Amid a tough crackdown on gang violence, local authorities in El Salvador are gradually populating a newly constructed "mega-prison" designed to hold up to 40,000 detainees following an initiative prompted by a state of emergency declared by the country's leadership.

As reported by AP, the move comes after President Nayib Bukele proclaimed a state of emergency in March 2022 in response to escalating gang violence, marking a harsh crackdown on crime in the Central American nation. San Salvador, in particular, has earned the grim moniker of "the world's murder capital".

Since the inception of the initiative, which led to more than 72,000 arrests of individuals suspected of gang involvement and affiliations, President Bukele introduced the Terrorism Confinement Center in February. In a tweet, he proudly proclaimed, that "El Salvador has managed to go from being the world's most dangerous country to the safest country in the Americas. How did we do it? By putting criminals in jail. Is there space? There is now".

This approach to combating crime, however, has faced significant criticism from human rights organizations and the international community due to its lack of emphasis on rehabilitation and the removal of fundamental rights for detained individuals, including access to legal representation and disclosure of the reasons for their arrest.

President Bukele defended his government's actions during his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2023, asserting that had El Salvador heeded external critics, including some within the United Nations, the nation would still be the global leader in homicides. He declared, that "the decisions we took were correct. We are no longer the world's death capital, and we achieved it in record time. Today, we are a model of security, and no one can doubt it. There are the results. They are irrefutable".

The publication underscores that President Bukele's tough stance on crime has garnered significant support among Salvadorans, leading to many neighborhoods returning to a sense of normalcy after enduring the horrors of gang violence.