El Salvador's Successful War on Crime

Why It Matters for American Immigration

Nayib Bukele is viewed as one of the most autocratic figures in the Western Hemisphere outside of Venezuela and Cuba. Yet with an approval rating around 90 percent, it’s hard to argue that the people love him despite his authoritarianism or perhaps it’s because his authoritarian leanings, especially when it comes to tackling crime.

For about as long as I can remember, El Salvador was considered the homicide capital of the world. In the mid-90s, the homicide rate was 141 per 100,000, falling to the mid 60s a decade later before rising again to 105 in 2015. The tiny country was known for three things, drugs, gangs, and death.

So where do things stand now? By the end of 2022, the homicide rate stood at 7.8 per 100,000 and at the very beginning of this year, is at just 1.9. If that latest number holds, El Salvador will have gone from having the highest homicide rate in the world to having a lower one than Canada in just a few years.

This immense transformation is Bukele’s shining achievement.