El Salvador's Incredible War on Gangs: Victory at Any Cost

When Bukele received a bunch of criticism from European nations about the human rights about the wave of prisoner arrests, he calmly replied " I will give you any of them you chose if you want to take them and look after their rights in your country" . The response was silence.

I am a salvadoran born in Soyapango. I have lived my whole life in fear, always scanning the street for threats, always ready to run, kick or scream if I need to. You can get snatched and killed any second, it's war but a silent war! you never know where the bullet is coming from. I am now 31, and I finally breathe in my country. It feels like a totally different place, we are still a poor country but at least we're poor at peace, the terror is gone.

I'm a 71 year old woman and I remember the nightmare of El Salvador. No one was safe, families were destroyed, children killed for revenge. It was hell on earth for people just trying to live. Thank you Mr. Bukele, the whole country thanks you.

Bukele is a hero that has literally saved thousands of lives.

El Salvador is the perfect example of using the obvious solutions to the obvious problems and them obviously being resolved.

I worked and lived in El Salvador for a mere 3 months back in 2018. Just around the months leading up to the election. I heard first hand stories about gang members regularly going into a bus and taking everyone's money and cellphones. I heard first hand stories from women who were openly groped in public by gangmembers who walked around with immunity because they were part of the gang. You couldn't just drive into any neighborhood, the gangs controlled entry and depending on the neighborhood they had different signals for entry. For example if you were driving up to a certain neighborhood you had to have the four way blinkers on your car, just to not get stopped automatically by gang members. Regular people were kidnapped for ransom. This video is not exaggerating when it says that gang members committed unspeakable and truly disturbing crimes against innocent women, children and men. There's always casualties in any war. And in the case of El Salvador this is a war that needed to be fought with a certain level of brutality. As an American citizen I suggest our government and human rights organizations to stay the fuck out of El Salvadors business and start thinking about the things we could improve at home.

Many call this man Alt Right and Authoritarian, but in my eyes he is the only person willing to do whatever it takes and a what is necessary to help the people. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I am El Salvadoran and President Bukele did a good thing because my family in the 80s and 90s were scared of the gangs and now they can be in peace

Bukele government is a slap to the face to the west society to finally make clear that the common denominator for low criminality rate isn't a high human development index or low poverty but the harshness of the punishments applied to criminals. If people are too afraid of the consequences they will behave.

I'm a Salvadorean, it hasn't been this peaceful in decades. The "solution" to the gang issues is only proportional to the issue itself, previous governments made half assed attempts at fixing the issue and it just kept getting worse. Also, I have a bunch of tattoos, the authorities know not all tattoos are gang tattoos. If you abide by the law there's literally no issues.

I am a first generation American, with parents who lived and fought in the Salvadoran Civil war. Ive had family members who are/were gang members, and have been arrested as well as family members who have been killed and disappeared by the gangs. Bukele is a national treasure, the one man responsible for ending the suffering and tragedy in El Salvador, a people who have never enjoyed peace since its existence. Not in the 1800’s, not during its decade long Civil War in the 80’s, and certainly not for its 30 years under gang control. Bukele delivered National pride, joy, freedom, peace and happiness to El Salvadorans. Its truly remarkable. What he has done is something every true Salvadoran, who has lived through its nightmare history will tell you is absolutely justified. No one should tell Salvadorans how to feel about their affairs, let alone the US who facilitated its violence and poor state for decades, because the Salvadoran people are now truly free and happy to live.

i wasnt born in el salvador, but my family was. i have a friend who complains that el salvador is violating human rights. i said to him: “would you rather live in a country with strict laws but almost no murders or violence, or a country with loose laws, but with of gang murders and violence?” he did not respond to the question.

My wife is Salvadorian and the stories she’s told me from when she visited when she was younger are insane. I went with her and her family earlier this year and her family said it was the most peaceful and safe it’s been in their whole lives (some of them were teens during the civil war). I can see where this can become dangerous if the wrong man comes into power but Bukele has transformed that country it’s beautiful and I can’t wait to go back.

One thing not mentioned in this video is what Bukele has done besides the crackdown on gangs. He's also invested a ton in infrastructure, economic growth and welfare/poverty reduction. That's the other side of his strategy. Just as the War on Terror failed because more terror arose, often wars on crime fail to tackle root causes of poverty, unemployment and dissatisfied youth. That's what Bukele has done otherwise. He's made gang life as unappealing as possible, while making a peaceful life as reachable as possible. It's actually pretty brilliant when you look at it that way.

As a honduran that has experienced about the same level of gang violence as people from our brother country el salvador. It was worth every godd*amn second

Greetings, I was watching your video and felt the need to respond. As a Salvadorean who fled the country because of the interests and policies imposed by foreign governments, it is only now that I can feel some relief to be back in my country. Curiously, people who have no clue what it is to run for your life can't have an opinion on what President Bukele is doing or label him as a Dictator. I have lived in many countries, the USA including and find the views of politicians and sold-out media so biased. Probably in the comfort of their posh homes, they never faced the loss of a loved one just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or being harassed daily. I hope you can keep your objectivity, which is rare to find in the mainstream media, and one day you can visit El Salvador and walk freely anywhere, something you can’t do anymore in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro or Madrid. The freedom we have has cost more than 100 thousand lives, and we, the Salvadoreans in El Salvador and outside, are not going to allow any foreign country or NGO to come and tell us what is best for us. In Spanish, we have a saying, “Candil de la Calle, obscuridad de tu casa,” which means we cannot bring our lantern to the street if our house is in darkness and that goes for foreign intervention. What we have now is something we could only dream of before. We have to work as any other society in many other areas of our lives, but the fact that we can safely and come back home every night is something we are going to cherish and secure to continue and no foreign opinion is going to change what "THE PEOPLE' want. Respectfully.

If a criminals’ rights are protected to the point where the victims rights are overlooked or removed then there is a problem with the system.

He fixed the broken country. I give him credit for saving the economy and protecting his citizens against violence.

it's easy to talk about human rights when you're sitting comfortably in your house, not having to worry if your son will catch a bullet for walking on the wrong street, or if your daughter will be kidnapped raped and ransomed, or if the gang will show up at your door threatening you for your money for groceries for the week. what Bukele has done for his country, for the Salvadorean people, is quite amazing.

Man. You've got my sub. You clearly have opinions and make solid points but you're so careful and balanced explaining the situation with all the pros and cons.