No Gangs,
No Democracy
Bukele’s crackdown on gangs has delivered results by any standard. In just three years, he has dismantled the powerful street gangs that turned El Salvador into the murder capital of the world. Families are returning to neighborhoods they fled, and children now play in streets formerly governed by dangerous gang members. But this peace has come at a severe cost: A temporary state of emergency declared in March 2022 has now turned into an indefinite power grab. Authorities possess sweeping powers to detain individuals based merely on suspicion of gang ties, wiretap communications without warrants, and harass journalists critical of the government.
This project attempts to show the collateral damage of Bukele's heavy-handed measures, from the erosion of civil liberties to mass arrests and the suspension of fundamental rights. The prison population has surged to over three times its previous size, granting El Salvador the dubious distinction of the world's highest incarceration rate. While Bukele claims that 99% of these detentions are warranted, human rights organizations assert that as many as 30,000 detainees are innocent. Hundreds have died in prisons due to torture and lack of medical care. With no accountability in sight, the government excludes journalists and human rights groups from accessing prisons.
Despite a Constitutional prohibition against consecutive presidential terms, Bukele ran for reelection in February 2024 and was overwhelmingly returned to power, solidifying his status as a hero in El Salvador and across Latin America. He is now one of the most influential political figures globally, prompting leaders in countries from Honduras to Haiti to imitate his authoritarian and repressive governance. This project seeks to humanize those affected by these draconian policies and demonstrate how gang violence has been supplanted by state-sponsored brutality. History is once more on a troubling trajectory.