Cruelty as a Tool in Fighting Crime

El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele has implemented harsh measures in response to the country's gang problem, including the suspension of civil rights and the mass incarceration of alleged gang members. Human rights organizations have condemned these practices as abusive, illustrating the brutal conditions prisoners endure, such as being confined to solitary cells and subjected to inhumane treatment. Bukele celebrates what he terms a successful strategy to instill order, boasting about the construction of the Terrorism Confinement Center designed to house thousands of inmates without due process. However, critics emphasize that this normalization of cruelty poses a grave threat to human rights and democratic principles in the country.