El Salvador’s mass arrest policy may have led to crimes against humanity, study shows

Soldiers guarding the prison entrance at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador on 4 April 2025. Photograph: Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images

The draconian mass incarceration policy of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, may have led to crimes against humanity, according to a new study by legal experts.

By locking up 1.4% of the population without due process, Bukele turned El Salvador from one of Latin America’s most violent countries into one of its least violent – but at the cost of human rights and the rule of law.