This is La Campanera. It used to be one of the
most dangerous neighborhoods, in the most dangerous city, in one of the most dangerous
countries in the world. El Salvador. El Salvador has been known as the murder capital of the world. Just to get an idea, in 2015, the murder rate in El Salvador
was higher than any country on Earth and more than 20
times higher than the US. But right now, La Campanera
feels downright safe in large part due to
a big police presence. Gang related murders in
El Salvador have plummeted to their lowest levels this century, and almost every person
attributes it to this man. El Salvador's Nayib Bukele. Since coming to power, his
tactics have led to the arrest of a higher percentage of its population than
any country in the world. 75,000 people and counting. Most citizens in El Salvador love Bukele with his approval rating
reaching as high as 92%, and the envy of almost every
other Latin American leader who are now starting to
emulate his policies. But for some, that miracle comes with a steep cost... civil liberties. The future of El Salvador, and Latin America, is at a tipping point. Does freedom have to be the
price to pay for safety? In 2019, 37-year-old Nayib Bukele won El Salvador's presidential election. Ending a long
stretch when only two parties were able to win power. President Bukele didn't
represent the failures and corruption of
previous administrations. Three of his predecessors
from El Salvador's, two main political parties, had either been arrested or indicted. Then one weekend changed everything between March 24th and 27th, 2022 87 people were
murdered in El Salvador, allegedly by gangs. 'Plan Bukele' was a
30-day state of emergency, but since then, it's been extended 22 times and counting. It suspended a wide range of constitutional rights. From freedom of association and assembly, to privacy and communications to being informed of the reason for arrests. The new prison has a
capacity of 40,000 inmates. Each cell holds 100 prisoners. All of it being showed off
on Bukele's official X account, formerly Twitter. And other countries are taking notes. Ecuador's copying not only
Bukele's approach on X, but emulating his prisons as well. And when it comes to the
long-term rehabilitation plan for these prisoners, the
Bukele Administration does not mince words. Others in El Salvador are not only critics of Bukele's harsh tactics, but victims Mejia's daughter was arrested by the state for allegedly belonging to a gang. He's been fighting to get her out since, but it's taken him months to even find her in the prison system. Mejia has not seen or spoken to his daughter
since the arrest. Mejia's story isn't unique in El Salvador, and that's how nonprofits
like Movír were born. Human rights groups like Movír and Cristosal have reported 215 deaths and thousands of abuses
related to the crackdown. Cristosal released a report in 2022 in which it denounced that inmates in El Salvador had
died from torture, beatings, strangulation, or lack
of medical attention during the state of exception. Many NGOs claim that El
Salvadorans live in just as much fear today as they did before the state of emergency. Even though reelection is
prohibited under the Salvadoran constitution, the Supreme
Court cleared the way for his reelection in 2024, Bukele has also taken a leave of absence from the
presidency to campaign. What's at stake in Bukele's second term is whether safety
is sustainable in El Salvador. And whether it can one day exist without the state of exception For others, the economy
is secondary on their mind as they fear the country falling further and further into the hands of an increasingly authoritarian leader. Can Bukele's popularity
last if he holds onto power for much longer?
