This chapter discusses the overcrowding of prisons in El Salvador and the construction of the Sequot mega prison, which currently holds 12,000 inmates out of its 40,000 capacity. It explores the abuse and deaths in old jails, government overreach, and arrests of innocent people, while also noting a decrease in the country's homicide rate.
Nayib Bukele has brought violent criminal gangs to a heel in El Salvador, transforming the country into one of the safest in Latin America. That’s made him extremely popular, even as human rights groups have condemned mass arrests and what they say are other abuses of civil liberties.
Marcelo Rochabrun, one of Bloomberg's bureau chiefs in Latin America, tells us how Bukele’s success in fighting crime has come at the expense of civil rights. And now, other leaders in the region are starting to follow suit.
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