The Economist's Sarah Burke visits Las Canias in El Salvador. She meets Don Pedro, a well-known local figure and administrator in the school there. He tells her how people can now walk around in relative safety. But he also explains what it has taken to achieve that change.
A country that was not long ago gripped by gang violence and crime is slowly emerging from fear, thanks to a brutal roundup of young men by a wildly popular, social-media-savvy president. The streets may be safer, but now it is El Salvador’s democracy that is in danger—and neighbouring countries’ leaders may take lessons from its budding autocrat.
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