Jailing 2% of your adult citizens turns out to be a surprisingly popular move, both at home and abroad. In El Salvador, the president, Nayib Bukele, has sent almost 70,000 people to prison in an “iron fist” crackdown on gangs, under a “state of exception” he imposed last March and has yet to lift.
Despite the suspension of basic liberties, due process and other human rights infringements, it is fast becoming a model for other nearby countries in the region. Honduras has launched a similar crackdown, after the gang-related massacre of 46 female prisoners. Other governments are considering it. In Guatemala, people have held pro-Bukele marches. “Copy it, as simple as that,” a mayor in Ecuador remarked of El Salvador’s tactics after a bomb attack in her city.
