El Salvador, once one of the world's most dangerous countries, has seen its murder rate drop by 98 per cent in a decade, prompting the United States to deem it safer to visit than Britain or France. In 2015, there were 6,656 murders in the small Central American nation of 6.4 million people, but by 2024, that number had fallen to just 114.
The dramatic transformation followed an aggressive crackdown on crime launched by President Nayib Bukele, who brands himself the 'world's coolest dictator'. In 2022, he declared a state of emergency, still in place, giving security forces the power to arrest people without a warrant. At one point, around 1,000 people a day were being detained on suspicion of gang involvement.
A year later, El Salvador opened the Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot), one of the world's most extreme prisons. Inmates are banned from all contact with the outside world, with up to 100 men sharing a single cell. They sleep on bare concrete slabs with no mattresses, food is limited, and there are no visitors or access to lawyers. Prisoners are often transferred in chains, surrounded by armed guards.
El Salvador now has the highest prison population per capita globally, with nearly three per cent of all men behind bars. US President Donald Trump has hailed Bukele's policies, and the two have become close allies. Before the crackdown, the country was dominated by two main gangs, MS-13 and Mara 18, which formed in California during the 1980s and were later deported back to El Salvador.
Bukele has also introduced tougher penalties for petty crimes: anyone caught drink driving, even with a trace of alcohol, can be jailed for 15 days before facing a fast-track trial and up to five years in prison. He has surrounded entire towns with soldiers, doubled the size of the military, and expanded surveillance powers. Checkpoints with armed troops are common, and police conduct door-to-door searches for suspected criminals.
Legal reforms allow judges to try dozens of suspects at once, with evidence including anonymous tips or online posts. In February 2025, Bukele signed a law ordering children held for organised crimes to be sent to adult prisons. According to Human Rights Watch, over 3,000 minors have been detained with little or no evidence.
