El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during the inauguration of the 3 de Febrero hydroelectric power plant in San Luis de La Reina, El Salvador October 19, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File PhotoSAN SALVADOR, Nov 1 -
President Nayib Bukele launched a sweeping crackdown on the small Central American nation's hyper-violent gangs early last year, sharply reducing crime rates while the incarceration skyrocketed, and is now the highest in the world.to target anyone who spread or otherwise reproduced graffiti "or any form of visual expression" attributed to gangs, including Mara Salvatrucha and its rival Barrio 18.
The law's critics argued it unjustly targeted journalists, who often source stories based on images showing graphic violence, including messages left by alleged gang members, or even interviews, graffiti and audios shared on social media. The senior legislator from Bukele's New Ideas party behind the original measure, Christian Guevara, was added to a U.S.No arrests were ever made under the law, though El Salvador's journalists association APES slammed it as "a clear attempt at censorship of media" immediately after it was approved."We have won the war on gangs and we can change our criminal policy," said Walter Coto, a New Ideas congressman, as the repeal was passed by all legislators present.
Bukele enjoys unprecedented popularity at home due largely to the crackdown, but rights groups argue the policy has unjustifiably curtailed basic due process rights, like the ability to mount a legal defense, while sending more than 73,000 suspected gang members to jail.