President Nayib Bukele’s brutal crackdown on crime has dramatically reduced the murder rate and won him favour with the public, but what’s the true cost of his war on gangs? The Economist’s deputy editor, Robert Guest, reports from El Salvador on how Bukele is using the fight against crime to amass power.
00:00 - Inside president Bukele’s crackdown
02:25 - How the public and the prisoners’ families have reacted
03:55 - El Salvador’s security minister on fair trials
05:13 - How Bukele is amassing power
Nayib Bukele shows how to dismantle a democracy and remain popular: https://econ.st/470cYVo
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For more stories from the Americas: https://econ.st/3NZFsG2
Young Latin Americans are unusually open to autocrats: https://econ.st/3DktqSH
What the world’s budding autocrats can learn from El Salvador: https://econ.st/3pV86Qu
El Salvador’s authoritarian president is becoming a regional role model: https://econ.st/44NuGJA
Latin America’s prisons are overcrowded and violent: https://econ.st/3Dmf8AT