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?