Brian McDonald
Authorities in El Salvador burned a 2.7-ton pile of cocaine worth an estimated $67.5 million. Salvadoran police released images It is video this week, of the huge pile of drugs burned in the city of Ilopango, east of the capital, San Salvador.
The cocaine was seized in May more than 1,000 miles off the coast of El Salvador from seven men on boats. Two Ecuadorians, two Colombians and three Mexicans were arrested. Police did not detail their exact charges.
The government of El Salvador has implemented a widespread crackdown on gangs and drug traffickers since the election of President Nayib Bukele in 2019. He was sworn in for a second term on June 1 after being re-elected with 85% of the votes. Under his leadership, the government declared a state of emergency in March 2022, which led to mass arrests of tens of thousands of suspected gang members.
Recently, the government of El Salvador transferred about 2,000 suspected gang members from prisons across the country to a new “megaprison” with capacity for 40,000 people in Tecoluca, southeast of the capital. In a highly produced video shared by Bukele on social media, prisoners are seen being escorted into the facility under heavily armed guard. Bukele promised that the prisoners would “pay for the crimes committed against our people”.
Gang violence was widespread in the country for decades, with official estimates placing the number of gang members in the country at between 60,000 and 86,000, according to Human Rights Surveillance. El Salvador has had a long-standing high homicide rate, which peaked at 105 per 100,000 people in 2015 before falling to an all-time low in 2022.
The Bukele government’s anti-crime tactics have been criticized by human rights groups due to concerns about due process and arbitrary confinement.
As of February this year, more than 78,000 arbitrary detentions had been recorded, leading to prison overcrowding of approximately 148%, with at least 235 deaths in State custody, according to Amnesty International. The organization also reported 327 enforced disappearances.
Human Rights Watch warns that Bukele’s government has “systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances.” The country’s constitution prohibits the president’s immediate re-election, but a court ruling paved the way for Bukele’s return.
The Biden administration has also expressed concerns, turning down a request for a meeting with Bukele in 2021 and sanctioning several of his top aides.
However, US relations with Bukele seem to have changed as a high-level delegation was sent to attend his second term inauguration. The Associated Press reported the change can be attributed to a shift in the Biden administration’s priorities in combating illegal immigration. El Salvador’s public security policies are responsible for a 60% drop in migration from the Central American country to the US since Bukele took office.
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