How the World’s Most Dangerous Country Solved Murder

Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

References

[Throwaway-kgft]

I'm salvadoran so I will leave my two cents here. I experienced my first shoot out when I was 5 years old. I have lost people to gang violence, both family and classmates. A big chunk of my family and childhood friends had to leave the country. My generation grew up surrounded by an obscene amount of violence. Everyday you would read in the newspapers that 15-30 people were murdered by gangs in a country that's the size of Delaware.

However, since Bukele took office: My family's small business has stopped paying protection money, the gangmembers who collected it have all been sent to jail or shot down by cops. Also, most family members have come back and are trying to make a living with the newfound peace we are enjoying. It's not much, but at least it's BETTER than the hell we were living in before. I'm not here to convince anyone about anything. Just wanted to state facts that I, as a salvadoran citizen, have experienced. Take it as you will.

[elliottbeames]

I don’t understand how the UN can complain about undeveloped countries and then COMPLAIN more when someone figures out how to fix it

[eduardomartins]

Brazilian here. Some mayors down here are following the public security Bukele playbook, and it is working.

[duniel]

What a great line: “Bukele has been condemned by just about anybody in the business of condemning"

[BokuWaLee]

Another Salvadorean here, when you have been robbed on the street at gun point or with a knife to your ribs for DECADES, when you knew people killed by gangmembers (in my case former co-workers), when you could not visit your family out of fear due to heavy gang presence. Having Bukele as president and actually seeing the results It feels like an unreal victory for the good people. Really like something I would not see in my lifetime. You have to be insane to want to go back to the hell we were before.

[HeceduHM]

Bukele is the biggest case study in letting someone cook and them actually cooking.

[KY-qykn]

"Choosing between a corrupt democracy or a virtuous dictatorship was one of the most difficult dilemmas faced by human society."

[leodanbmx]

As salvadorean, Bukele is the best thing that has ever happened to our country, he has saved so many lives, hes given hope and we can finally say we are proud to be Salvadoreans, we are literaly the safest country in the entire american continent and its a FACT

[FreshSmog]

As a Singaporean, yes, sometimes a single "benevolent" leader who's willing to play hard ball and clean up the country will appear, and democratic checks and balances will hold this person back.

Unfortunately such "benevolent" leaders are once in a generation. It's unlikely the successors will be as good as he was. Lee Kwan Yew was a product of his time. Modern Singapore has been incredibly peaceful and made the small ruling elite filthy rich, hardly the ideal environment to produce a leader of LKY's calibre.

Make sure to close up those legal loopholes and reintroduce the checks and balances after use.

[thescaarbo]

As a small business owner living here, I can say the ambience of the country has changed incredibly. The thing most people would openly and understandbley criticize Bukele about is his questionable decisions with Bitcoin, and also some accusations of corruption and lack of transparency with where some of the government spending goes. Besides that though, pretty much everyone wants him to stay as president. Businesses have been booming and so has foreign investment and tourism. The international community can lambast him as much as they want, but it's worth noting it was an autocrat that made Singapore into what it is today (it's actually something Bukele has vocally stated he wants to emulate). Who's to say El Salvador might not also go down that road in the future.

[Kchellz]

Im 16 years old I was born and Raised in El salvador till 2014, i experienced shoot outs since i was a baby, i lost my uncle to gang violence, i lost my friends who were also kids no older than 10 due to shoot outs, i lost family i lost neighbors, we were forced to flee the country by these gang members or we were gonna die. I was no older than 8… seeing how my country has changed brings sm tears of happiness. I do hate seeing how
some people get to visit but im stuck in another country since i am still undocumented. Even tho my country was dangerous, it was beautiful. and i miss it everyday. and i miss my family i havent seen them in almost a decade . hopefully one day i’ll be able to experience the peace my president has achieved🇸🇻🫶🏻💓😊

[themasonjars]

I just visited El Salvador. I only visited the beach, for surfing. In talking to a friend who lives in the city and others i met, they stated it is amazing to open small businesses now and enjoy life in the city without fear. Everyone i met was awesome. Would love to return

[jorgerodriguez]

As a Salvadorean this is one of the most fair videos about bukele, they usually praise bukele like a god or they go to the other extreme and think is the devil. Your conclusion is super fair both what bukele has done right and the possible risk of having a dictator. I feel way safe in El Salvador now that gangs have been dismantled, in the past I had to take so many precautions because of the high criminality rates, I lived in fear and that is gone.

However if our own history and the ones from other Latin American countries has taught us, dictators are super volatile, they can start "good" and at any moment they can flip the switch and destroy a country. And bukele has the power to flip the switch since it has destroy all democratic institutions, you mention the supreme court and that is the biggest one but it has destroyed all institutions, he has complete control of the country without having to respond to anyone, we are completely in the dark about the financial state of the country and our debt just as an example.

The only thing I can hope is that bukele stays sane and doesn't do something stupid.

[Jhairus]

The images of the gang members in prison clothing forced to destroy the gang monuments of their graveyards did it for me. The man delivered the strong message: no freedom, no honor, no memory for the gangs.

I hope this can be maintained.

[danielsanchez]

I feel like there’s two problems and neither are necessarily with Bukele himself.
1. Who comes after Bukele? He is a rare example of someone who has used his power well. When he either dies or steps down, there will be a large power vacuum. That tends to beget a lot of conflict.
2. People will look at his example and assume that (fill in the blank populist politician) would be able to accomplish something similar with power. This is a risky gamble and probably won’t turn out all that well for any countries that try it.

[louiszhang]

This is one of the best coverages of the El Salvadoran situation I've seen. I can completely understand why the El Salvadoran people love Bukele, he has done a lot for his country. It is better that the country decides for itself the future, because foreign intervention clearly hasn't worked. Power does corrupt a person, however, and it'll be interesting to see what the future holds for El Salvador. I hope El Salvador continues to keep its peace, and Bukele continues to do what is best for his people, even if that involves giving his power to others.

[Thing-vcqm]

I hope it ends well. I can totally understand that people would vote for anyone that let them not be murdered in the streets.

[chemiuxqwerty]

I'm from Mexico, also a crime-ridden state, and I literally cried over hearing that it's possible for a violent country to find peace. Thank you for sharing

[BlackOpal_Rising]

I just came back from visiting El Salvador. And while I was only there for a few days, my first impression was impactful in a beautiful way. I’m very impressed with the turn around this little Nation has made, and I’m seriously considering making El Salvador my home in retirement.

[carloslara]

As a Salvadorean I can say I lived the worst moments of my life when I was there in 2008 I was in a bus while 4 gang members of the MS-13 took over and stole everyone in the bus their mobile phones and left everyone without their cell phones I was so scared they had guns and knives I felt terrified