Summary: El Salvador’s government has constructed a mega prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center (TCE) built to imprison gang members, with 2,000 more suspected, not known, gang members being recently sent to it. The prison is built to house up to 40,000 inmates and currently 57,000 of those imprisoned at the TCE and other prisons are still awaiting a trail without an attorney, which is against the country’s constitution. President Nayib Bukele, a controversial president who has once called himself the “world’s coolest dictator”, has used anti-gang emergency powers granted by his congress to take these measures. The order was granted last March after a rise in MS-13 and Barrio 8 gang violence, gangs that have terrorized the country for decades. His government makes outlandish claims about the crackdowns, such as homicides being zero for over 200 days, but these statements have clearly worked as the crackdowns remain popular despite many innocent people likely being arrested indefinitely.
Analysis: I believe Bukele is using a major crackdown on gang violence to garner himself popular support to strengthen his powers as president. It is true gang violence has long terrorized the country and Central America in general, and appearing tough on the issue would only grant more favorability and popularity if such measures were at least seemingly effective (they have somewhat been). Bukele has not shied away from his ideological standing publicly whatsoever, with him being very open about empowering the presidency of El Salvador. Cabinet members from the prior FMLN (left-wing) administration have been quietly arrested during his tenure and his Attorney General has even sought to detain Salvador Ceren, his predecessor. El Salvador’s Supreme Court has also ruled that Bukele is allowed to run for a consecutive re-election term, undermining a 2014 ruling that disallowed this. I fully expect the elimination of due process under the anti-gang measures to be further replicated in the future, with Bukele attempting to argue similar measures can be taken on corruption, in which he can argue his eventual opponents are part of such corruption. Overall, I expect Bukele to only further consolidate power and use his popularity gained on ant-gang violence to empower himself.
Connection to Class: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognize due process as a minimal requirement for a proper justice system. El Salvador’s suspension of due process goes against both of these documents, but the documents aren’t legally binding. However, aspects of these documents have been implemented into binding international treaties, especially relating to human right abuses, something El Salvador is found to have over 5,000 of since the start of their measures. While no country has taken legal action against El Salvador, states such as the US have cut aid to the country for its human rights abuses.
