El Salvador’s National Civil Police stated in a recent intelligence report that around 43,000 gang members still remain at large, or “around 36 percent” of all potential gang-affiliated members in the country, according to Reuters. While the government argues for continued cracking down on crime, some human rights organizations believe the government has a different agenda. They point to El Salvador’s incarceration of 72,000 gang members, the highest rate in the world. This is because in March of 2022, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele issued “a national state of exception on crime,” which stripped certain rights, like due process. Human rights organizations have criticized wide-spread abuses like “torture” and “deaths in custody.” However, many Salvadoran citizens support the new constitutional changes, as they have led to a “drop in homicides” and crimes like “extortion and drug dealing.” 

Noah Bullock, the executive director of Salvadoran rights group Cristosal, has stated that the government is playing “two narratives,”a double game, saying that they’re fighting gangs but trying to “justify mass human rights violations” at the same time. Meanwhile, the police report claimed that gangs in the country were “weakened” but still retained groups that could “carry out murders as ordered.” General Secretary of the Police Workers Movement Marvin Reyes added that many of those who have been arrested are not leaders, but “lower and middle” parts of the gang. If true, this means many of the most dangerous members are still unapprehended and at large. 

Both sides of this debate have an understandable perspective. On the one hand, the government has an obligation to keep peace in the community, and safety for innocent people. Violent gangs creating chaos scare away ordinary people, who often support a heavy crackdown so life can return to normal. On the other hand there are many organizations expressing concerns that governmental intervention has gone too far, leading to serious human rights violations. In many cases, matters of world peace can be more simple, like a group is being persecuted by another for example. However, one can see that there is more nuance in the police crackdowns in El Salvador are not universally supported. 

In order to understand why the government is has taken this stance today, one should examine El Salvador’s recent history. In 1979, a military Junta led the country. After some failed promises regarding better living conditions, five big guerilla groups around the country came together to form the National Liberation Front (FMLN). This began a civil war which lasted until 1992, and only ended in a peace accord which did not address social or economic grievances. As an article from the New American Story Project found, the accords “were not designed for transforming the country into a peaceful place.” Instead, they were a means of getting the guerilla groups to stop fighting, and enter into government. Moreover, starting in 1989, to crack down on illegal immigration and crime, the United States began to “deport young men with criminal records” from California to El Salvador. Both of these historical factors created the crime conditions of today, presenting challenges to the country’s peace and security. 

The El Salvadoran government has an incentive to try to cut the lifeblood of gangs which have spread throughout the country due to instability and other historical factors. To avoid future problems however, they should do that with respect to the human rights of even the worst gang members, an argument that human right groups support. Only by acting justly and within the confines of the country’s constitution, can the government achieve lasting peace and security for all its people.