August 8, 2023
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has gone above and beyond to rid the country of the vicious gangs that have terrorized it and along with it most Central America. He has become such a rock-star that other Central American leaders are looking at him as someone on the right path to solving hard crime.
While this magazine does not agree with the approach he has taken, with that being roundups of mass amounts of suspected gang members, we have to admit that something had to have been done to control the obscene levels of violent crime.
Before Bukele’s gang busting activities, the Wall Street journal reported that El Salvador’s homicide rate fell from a peak of 106 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to 7.8 in 2022, among the lowest in Latin America. He has done it.
Whatever the critics have to say is irrelevant. He has brought the homicide rate to levels less than half of the America’s average, which conversely stands at 17.2 per 100,000.
Keep on cleaning up the streets, Senor Bukele. The numbers don’t lie. To all of the people who have innocently been caught up in the raids, we have to say that if you had not been in the area then you would not have been picked up.