El Salvador jailed 2% of its men. Here's what happened.(Ken LaCorte)

"A few years ago, it was the murder capital of the world. Today, your chances of getting murdered in El Salvador are lower than anywhere in North or South America. Was the solution worth the cost?" – Ken



Bukele engaged in a scorched earth policy and it worked. While some innocent people were caught up in the mass arrests it ended the gangs that had been terrorising the country. One could liken this to waging war - where innocent civilians are killed in the process of achieving victory to protect the interests of the State and the people. It's ugly, but in desperate times desperate measures are often taken. The alternative is a continuing cycle of murder. For hardened gangs, group therapy is not going to work. The problem now is the loss of checks and balances for those in office, since they used sweeping powers to repair the country, plus general corruption by those running the institutions. 

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, July 24, 2026.]