From Mass Graves to Mass Incarceration

President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into to one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and arbitrarily detained tens of thousands of people, including children. El Salvador now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. 

What’s to be done when an elected leader attacks human rights, yet remains wildly popular? That question is personal to Agustín, a Salvadorian teenager who spent his whole life trying to avoid gangs but was wrongly detained in Bukele’s crackdown.  

Juanita Goebertus Estrada: Director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division  

José Miguel Cruz: Director of Research at Florida International University's Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center