Within the first two months of the state of emergency in El Salvador imposed by President Nayib Bukele back in 2022, two of Gladis Álvarez’s sons were arrested and accused of being gang associates. Since then, the 53-year-old woman’s life has fallen apart. “There were eight of us in my family. Now, I’m the only one left,” Álvarez laments. “Since my sons were arrested, our lives have been destroyed in a terrible way,” she adds.
Take the following point of view to understand what Bukele has done in the country.
The gang members in El Salvador are nothing close to the people affiliated with gangs in the US and elsewhere. These people are serial killers, there is no way to rehabilitate and reintroduce such individuals back into society.
It is like saying hey let’s release El Chapo because his conditions in isolation are inhumane and antidemocratic or take any serial killer and rapist in the same context.
For the people that have been caught and claim to be innocent it is far from the truth. Some of these individuals were aiding these gang members in many ways maybe because of close ties to their families. Being of aid to these people makes you just as guilt, you are not innocent.