How Nayib Bukele's 'Iron Fist' Has Transformed El Salvador

TIME's profile traces how Nayib Bukele, a former advertising executive who won the presidency in 2019, ended El Salvador's gang dominance through a "mano dura" (iron fist) crackdown. After gangs killed more than 87 people in one weekend in March 2022, he declared a state of exception that allows arrests without warrants and detention without trial. Government data shows homicides fell by half in 2022 and by more than 70% in 2023, and about 81,000 people were jailed at the time of the interview, leaving roughly one in 57 Salvadorans incarcerated, the highest rate in the world. Bukele's approval rating is above 90% in the CID Gallup poll, and he won re-election in 2024 with 84% of the vote after allied judges reinterpreted a constitutional ban on consecutive terms. Human rights groups and Salvadoran lawyers report arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, torture, and thousands of innocent people caught in the arrests, while officials say about 7,000 people have been freed for lack of evidence. The article also notes that a survey found 61% of Salvadorans fear negative consequences for speaking publicly about the country's problems, and that Bukele's Bitcoin policy has seen limited adoption. Since the article was published, the state of exception has been extended 48 times and official arrests have passed 91,000.