The world's 'most dangerous' country that also has 'the world's toughest prison'

Once the , there are two sides to the transformation of Central America's smallest country. At its most violent peak when El Salvador was ravaged with gangs, 6,650 people died by murder in 2015 with the World's highest homicide rate of 105 per 100,000 people.

So how, you might ask, did murders fall to a record low of 114 just nine years later in 2024, a drastic 98 percent drop per capita, according to figures by the Attorney General's Office. The answer comes in the form of leader former mayor of the capital, San Salvador, who once described himself as "the world's coolest dictator". Murders under his rule have drastically fallen after his administration put the country in a state of emergency for more than two years, and built what is often referred to as one of the toughest prisons in the world, Cecot.

It's the same prison, in fact, that Donald Trump has started deporting people to after ICE arrests, including 200 Venezuelans who a judge ordered to be returned to the US.

Now, the prison holds tens of thousands of prisoners - more than 83,000 people are estimated to have been arrested since 2022 - who are deemed to be suspected gang members.

Bukele began the crackdown after a deadly day in March 2022, when El Salvador's notoriously powerful street gangs - notably Barrio 18 and MS-13 - killed 62 people in a matter of hours.

In response, the President's administration requested Congress a "state of exception", which suspends some Constitutional rights and gives police more powers to arrest and hold suspects.

Many locals are in favour of the mass arrests, relieved to be able to walk freely in the once gang-ruled streets, however opinion is hugely divided.

There are wide reports of arbitrary detention, and police are known to base gang affiliations on tattoos denoting loyalty, asking suspects to raise their shirts on the streets.

Salvadoran civil society organizations and international human rights groups have widely criticised the scheme, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported the mass detentions swept up about 3,000 children - some as young as 12 - in a July 2024 report.

Civil society, UN bodies and many States have called to lift the state of emergency which has been renewed more than 37 times, and has led to the arbitrary detention of thousands of people, according to civil society groups.

Bukele has said that 8,000 people who were innocent have been released.

Despite diving opinion, Bukele's popularity rages on, having received more than 84 percent of the vote in his re-election in February 2024 for another five-year term.