El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s offensive against gangs severely weakened the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18 and turned his security strategy into a model replicated in other Latin American countries. But at what cost?
Mass Arrests, State of Exception, and Megaprisons
Bukele’s security strategy rests on three main pillars: the state of emergency, mass arrests, and the construction of megaprisons.
In March 2022, the government intensified its anti-gang offensive in response to a wave of violence that left 87 people dead in just 72 hours. The massacre came amid the breakdown of secret negotiations that officials had allegedly held with gang leaders to reduce homicides. In response to the massacre, the government declared a state of emergency, which suspended constitutional guarantees and loosened detention rules, paving the way for an unprecedented campaign of mass arrests.
The offensive debilitated MS13 and Barrio 18, two gangs that began on the streets of Los Angeles and expanded across Central America when their members were deported from the United States. Bukele’s wide-sweeping arrests dismantled much of the gangs’ structures and forced many members into hiding or exile.
But the pace of arrests eventually overwhelmed a prison system already struggling with overcrowding. In response, the government opened the Terrorism Confinement Center (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo – CECOT) in 2023, a maximum-security megaprison designed to hold 40,000 inmates in severe conditions. But the country’s existing prisons remained severely overcrowded.
How Far Did the Offensive Go?
The offensive extended beyond El Salvador’s borders. Through Interpol Red Notices, Salvadoran authorities pushed for the detention of suspected gang members in other countries.
This was compounded by US designations. In 2025, the United States added MS13 and Barrio 18 to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, expanding its own legal tools for targeting both gangs.
SEE ALSO: The InSight Take: El Salvador’s Mass Trials Put Bukele’s Gang Crackdown on Display
Meanwhile, in El Salvador, the offensive entered a new phase: the prosecution of thousands of detainees. Authorities turned to collective trials, grouping hundreds of defendants together to handle the volume of cases. In July 2026, hearings concluded against 485 alleged MS13 members.
Costs and Consequences
Lethal violence declined significantly, and the gangs lost much of the territorial control they had exercised over communities.
El Salvador recorded the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly 2% of its population in prison from late 2023, a proportion that persisted through the end of 2025.
Human rights organizations have documented reports of arbitrary arrests, abuses, and deaths in custody. In July 2026, Amnesty International documented that at least 470 people had died in state custody since the state of exception began.
The offensive has also been accompanied by increased persecution of journalists, activists, and human rights defenders.
Learn more about Bukele’s offensive in our complete and updated El Salvador profile.
