With rare access to El Salvador’s most secure prisons, we explore the dark side of President Bukele’s gang crackdown.
President Nayib Bukele introduced a state of emergency in El Salvador, using it to dismantle the violent gangs that had terrorised the Central American country for decades. Thousands of alleged gang members have been rounded up and locked away, many of them in CECOT, a huge, purpose-built high-security prison.
The streets are now safe, but at what cost? Government forces are accused of arbitrarily detaining innocent people without trial or even charge, and in some cases, of violence and torture.
People & Power gained rare access to two of El Salvador’s maximum-security prisons, looking behind the scenes of Bukele’s bid to bust the gangs.
Published On 27 Aug 2025
