The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, defended the results of his anti-gang crusade at the UN, stating that it has restored peace to the country’s streets. “In the last five years, El Salvador was reborn, we returned the streets of our country to our people,” Bukele said in his speech before the UN General Assembly.
In March 2022, Bukele launched his “war” on gangs under a state of emergency that allows arrests without a court order, during which 82,000 alleged gang members have been detained. “Some say that we have imprisoned thousands, but the reality is that we have freed millions. Now it’s the good people who live freely, without fear, with their freedoms and human rights fully respected,” Bukele said.
“We turned our nation, once the murder capital of the world, into the safest country in the entire Western Hemisphere. It was the greatest challenge our nation has ever overcome,” he added. Human rights groups criticize Bukele’s methods, claiming that thousands of innocents have been detained. They also denounce the prison conditions.
The president stated that El Salvador used to be the most violent country in the world without being at war, “the country of the gangs (maras),” but that this changed with his crusade. “We returned the streets of our country to our people and established a flourishing tourism industry, hosting international events for surfing, sports, and entertainment. We gave thousands of Salvadorans who fled from war and poverty a country to return to,” he said.
Bukele also assured that there are political and freedom of expression rights in El Salvador. “In El Salvador, we don’t imprison our opposition, we don’t censor opinions, we don’t confiscate the assets of those who think differently, we don’t arrest people for expressing their ideas,” he stated.
“In El Salvador, your freedom of expression, as well as your private property, will always be protected,” he added.
