For more than 40 years, El Salvador was the literal murder capital of the world. Crime was so intense, that the government reported that in 2015 there were 103 homocides per every 100,000 people. The majority of crime wasn't even reported because of the intimidation of the gangs. Most of the crime was committed by MS-13, A gang created by El Salvador refuges in LA during the 80's. In an effort to reduce crime, many presidents were accused of negotiating with the gangs to lower murders. The gangs controlled nearly 247 out of the 267 provinces and charged extortion fees to leave provinces. The gangs were so prevalent and powerful that they didn't even conceal their crimes with them instructiong witnesses to "hear, listen but dont tell"
Everything changed when a new political entity began to form. The gangs were controlling the majority of political parties, so Nayib Bukele began the "Nuevas Ideas" party. In 2019, He became the first president not to be from either of the two major political parties. As an entrepenuer, business leader and leftist, he began to lead massive changes within the country. Most predominantly of these was the crackdown on gang violence. In June of 2019, Bukele began implementing anti-gang policies to cut them off, consequently the country reached the lowest homocide rates since the end of the civil war: 18 per 100,000. Policies include deploying troops to areas with significant gang presences, increased funding for the police and extreme lockdowns in prisons. On the 27th of march, 2022 the legislative branch approved a special period of exception which increased the powers of the prosecution and gave the government the abilitity to monitor people without a warrant. It also drastically increased the punishments available for gang lords, from 6-9 years to 45-49 years in prison. In addition to this the government also lowered the age at which people could be prosecuted from 16 to 12.
On the 25th of may, the national civil polic announced they had arrested 34,500 people due to arrest quotas. This put immense strains on the budgets for prisons. Bukele denied increasing spending for the quality of life for prisoners claiming they were not important. Currently meals are rationed to twice a day and they are not allowed outside of their cells. Outside of their cells the government began to remove the headstones and graves of known gang members to prevent them from becoming martys. When asked about this the minister of justice claimed it to be like de-nazification, with the government also relating the gangs and nazis many times over. In 2023, a new superprison was announced capable of holding 40,000 inmates, TCC.
Politically, the government crackdowns have been considerably highly approved, 70% approve of the crackdowns and 85% approve of Bukeles leadership. Critics have said his ruthless pursuit of crime has crossed lines with civil liberties. Bukele has been well recieved among the international community, with many in south america copying his agenda in their political campaigns. Personally i'd be very glad to see law enforcement take harder stance, especially in cities with high crime rates like Seattle. Many questions are still remaining concerning the state of the nation, are the governments powers justified in this state of emergency? Is the treatment of prisoners in their detentions and jails fair? What about the lack of civil liberties? Is cereal a soup?
Replies
Great topic choice and summary Jackston! With that said, be sure to reply more as you only replied twice. Separate your questions so it easier to see them and be sure to include your sources. And I see you slipped that one last queston in there. No it isn't. Not even close.
I belive that prisenors should have thier strickt rules because why should a prisoner have special thing thay can do, when their the ones that dicided to bring that on themsevles plus their are diffrences between the crimes and how thier senteced.
I think that some treatment not saying all of it could be a little fair but it would have to depend on your crime you committed. Because there certain levels of how bad a crime can be and your rules may depend on that and it mostly will depend on that. It happens all the time especially seeing if you did something really bad you tend to spend the rest of your life in there.
I think that some treatment can be fair but it mostly depends on what you do or surving for, I think that just because they are prisioners they still should have there civil liberties even though what they did is wrong they still should get a chace to prove there freedom. is ceral a soup yes?
I think that the prisoners will have strict rules. But it might be a good solution. Because it can help us and help them out on a lot.
I agree with you on somethings but being locked up for so long in unfair. But it also should depend on how bad the crime they committed, the worse it is the longer, if its not bad they should not be locked up for a long time.
I think that these rules are being increased way too much, and it seems a little sketchy like they want to be careless towards these people. 6-9 years in prison becoming 45-49 years is an extreme difference, and it is likely that most of the people getting that much time in prison deserve less time.
I agree with a lot of things that you said I think that they are treating fairly but in some cases they probably are mistreated. Is cereal a soup? I dont think that cereal is a soup I bealive that soup is in a catagory by itself and only by itself Nothing else in that catagory
I belive that because of the crimes they commited that they should have to face terrible punishements. I think they hardly even deserve the bare minumum such as food, clothing, and shelter. Also if criminals are getting treated like that they may choose to not commit the same crimes, because they wouldn't want to get the same punishement.
I think even though these people have done the worst things someone could think of, does not mean they deserve to be treated like an animal that derseves to be locked up forever. They derserve a chance to prove themselves and get the chance to be free.
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