How El Salvador Destroyed their Brutal Gangs
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Published 2024-01-19
Written by: Chris Cappy & Diego Aceituno
Edited by: Savvy Studios
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The story of gang violence in El Salvador is a warning to everyone about the steps a country will go to if a domestic security problem is not addressed and allowed to fester for too long.
Nearly 20,000 people were killed in El Salvador by gang violence from 2014 to 2017 and the country was known as one of the most dangerous places in the entire world. Meanwhile the solution to destroying these gangs has forced us to ask ourselves uncomfortable questions about choosing between freedom and security. El Salvador itself is not a large country at only 21,000 square kilometers, making it roughly the size of my state of New Jersey. With 6.5 million people living in El Salvador the nation is the smallest yet most densely packed country in all of Central America. Looking at the natural beauty of the nation you would be surprised to learn it has dealt with decades of ugly civil war, gang violence, and poverty. Due to this around 20% of the country’s citizenry now live abroad in other Latin American countries and the US. Part of El Salvador's geopolitical importance comes from the fact that they are located on the coast of the Pacific near important shipping lanes and they neighbor countries that are close to the Panama canal. Instability could and has in the past quickly overflowed into neighboring countries.
El Salvador is way more closely intertwined with the United States than you might think. Total trade between the two was $6.7 billion in 2021 and 2.5 million Salvadorans call the US home. Remittances from Salvadorans who live and work in the United States totaled a whopping $7.1 billion in 2021 which makes up literally 25% of El Salvador's entire GDP.
What are Remittances? Remittances are when migrants send part of their money they earn back home to support their families. Due in part to this the USA and El Salvador tied by the hip in an economic common law union. The relationship between them is so tight that El Salvador was actually one of the only Latin American nations to join the U.S. military coalition in the 2003 war in Iraq. If that’s not in sickness and in health I don’t know what is.
Stability in El Salvador is pretty important to the US for a few reasons. One of them being that El Salvador's international airport is one of only two in all of Latin America that the U.S. military is authorized to conduct anti-narcotics missions from. That’s pretty important if you ask me. The US also has an interest in keeping immigration levels at a certain rate and violence and instability in the country can send those rates up. By the end of 2022, the global number of asylum-seekers and refugees from El Salvador had reached over 200,000 people. US military assistance to El Salvador was about $15 million between 2016 and 2020 to help address the gang violence. But In 2020 that aid stopped partly because of criticisms about a perception that the country was sliding into authoritarianism. The reason for that slide has to do with their fight against Gang Violence.
#WAR #POLICE #SECURITY
All Comments (21)
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El Salvador's drastic measures and solutions to the gang problem might serve as a model for replication by Ecuador and other Latin American countries. What do you think of their approach? Is it authoritarian, or are these necessary steps to defeat brutal gangs running amok www.instagram.com/cappyarmy/ twitter.com/Cappyarmy
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A friend of mine is a Salvadoran living in the US, and he loves what's happened in his country. He told me it's finally safe to go home and visit.
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El Salvador is a different country, unrecognizable, business booming, people having parties until very late, women walking alone at night, people using laptops at bus stations, I mean, that was insane just a year ago! Only someone who has face that level violence and insecurity can understand how precious safety is.
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I like what Bukele said to countries that whined about the massive arrests."You care about these people,send planes. How many you want 5000? 10,000?"
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I left El Salvador in 1982 at the age of 12 yo, in the mist of the civil war. I saw things no little boy or child should ever see and I am surprised I have never needed therapy. I have never been back and have no desire to ever go back, at least for now. I might’ve been born there and I do not deny my birth place, but I consider the U.S. my country. El Salvador never gave me anything but poverty, hunger, misery. The U.S. has given me everything and it is the reason of who I am today. I am happy with what Bukele has done for El Salvador and its citizens and I wish them the best.
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Had a Salvadoran cab driver say to me that I was his last ride. He was moving back. He mentioned his love for this president and happy knowing that his family (in El Salvador) can walk about the streets without fear.
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Something important to mention - the reason that Bukele's government raided the anti-corruption office was that it was staffed with people from the previous party system that had ruled El Salvador and were commonly perceived as being paid off by the gangs. The office was also investigating Bukele for impeachment or a coup on their behalf. TL;DR: The anti-corruption office was widely believed to be held by corrupt people.
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The hell with the critics and rest of the world! You did what needed to be done and now your people FINALLY feel safe! Congrats on EARNING your REELECTION!
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Sometimes drastic measures must be taken for drastic results. My stepdad is from El Salvador and I’ve never seen him happier about the state and safety his country has now. I’ve been there many times myself and the changes are nothing short of amazing.
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Bukele is doing the right thing and it's showing. Crime rates in Salvador are at an all time low and neighboring countries are imitating his approach. This man is a legend
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As a salvi native, it’s great to see more and more coverage of my country.
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My coworkers are Salvadorian refugees from the war the happiness in their voices when they talk about how safe the country is now brought a smile to my face.
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as an American it sickens me to see that we just can’t stop destroying other countries and then our government gets mad when a leader comes along that puts his nation first and tries to fix it. Good for El Salvador turning the corner for their people
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Had an el salvadorian co-worker, he could not stop raving about how great El Salvador is now. To go from the most dangerous/violent country in the americas to the safest one in just a few years is hard to fathom.
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Salvadorean here. To add some context gangs even influenced pollings. They took hostage of people’s ID in red zones so they couldn’t vote. Both right wing and left wing failed to put a solution to gangs. Both negotiated with gangs instead of solving the problem until Bukele came. Although Im critical of some of his actions, he did put an end to gang violence here. The country finally feels safe. Around 2015 there were more deaths and people lost per day here than Afganistan.
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My father's side of the family immigrated to Canada in the 80's. They fought against the government during the civil war. The stories are pretty gruesome. I'm glad that I was able to understand what they lived a bit better, and also why they never wanted to go back. Thank you for this video
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Surgery is invasive. But the patient live.
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my dad left in 1979 his best friend was castrated and hung from a post with a letter stating who the death squad would kill next. My dad was a university student and fled to USA. after the war ended we would visit. i would go during summer vacation every few years. i hated not being able to go outside by myself. I visited twice last year and it was like an entirely different country. my parents live on my grandpas farm and love it. they will be voting for Bukele soon.
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I've been visiting El Salvador since 2016. Coming from Australia. The government needed to do something. Salvadoran people are beautiful and deserve freedom. It's too easy to criticise from the outside. The president has done the right thing. Just hope he keeps the democracy going.
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Great Journalism my man! You did your homework on the actual facts. There's no way to understand a conflict if you never look back at how it started. I'm Salvadoran myself and bacame a US citizen, but I'm proudly going back to my home country and start my own business. That's how good El Salvador is now.
