On March 27th, a state of emergency was enacted in the small Central American country, driven largely by a recent spike in homicides. The invocation of Article 29 of the constitution holts the government’s provision of some basic rights and freedoms. These impact a detainee’s right to legal representation, widen restrictions on privacy in communications, lower the legal age for being trailed as an adult, and increase detention periods, among others.

Since the state of emergency was imposed, some 16,000 presumed gang members, or “terrorists” as labeled by President Nayib Bukele, have been arrested. President Bukele continuously shares footage of rough treatment of prison inmates and brags about removing their access to mattresses, visits, sunlight, and even meals in response to threats from gangs. “Continue to threaten our citizens and I guarantee your homeboys (jailed fellow gang members) will no longer eat, he stated in a military induction/promotional video in early April.

Long terrorized by gang violence, El Salvador appears to be undergoing abrupt cathartic healing at the behest of its leader, but at what cost? The gangs Mara Salvatrucha (M13) and Barrio 18 have held significant power in El Salvador for decades. Both have been heavily engaged in drug trafficking, killing, extortion, and other violent enterprises – causing an internal bloodshed unparalleled in Latin America and even the world. In 2015 El Salvador recorded murder rates as high as 103 per 100,000 people, the highest globally. Today, members of both gangs are being held in the same prison cells in an effort to break lines of communication inside prisons; a novel and heavily criticized move.

Since the election of president Bukele, the country had gone through a process of self-healing; with a steadily declining murder rate which increased foreign investment prospects and led to increased security and mobility. The 80 homicides reported in late March (62 in 24 hours) sat in heavy contrast to this trend. There is still no confirmed explanation for the late March murder spike. But whatever the reason, the Bukele administration acted decisively.

These new sweeping measures have been criticised by the international community and human rights NGOs alike. “Instead of protecting Salvadorans, this broad state of emergency is a recipe for disaster that puts their rights at risk” Stated Tamara Taraciuk Broner, Americas Director at Human Rights Watch. This sentiment is echoed by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who also expressed his concern over due process and the rights of detainees – a statement somewhat hollowed given the U.S. has been deporting violent Salvadorian convicts en masse for years.

But whilst criticized abroad, president Bukele’s heavy-handed approach seems to be widely approved by Salvadorians, a significant percentage of whom have been direct victims of gang violence. Reasons for this approval are clear, homicides and rates of extortion in El Salvador have plummeted in recent weeks as citizens from the most terrorized communities are regaining long-lost peace. Civil rights in exchange for a lower rate of crime may yet prove an unsustainable trade-off in El Salvador.