Search
Search
Journalism from the heart of crises
  1. Home
  2. Americas
  3. El Salvador

Salvadoran minors pay price of gang crackdown

Almost 3,000 children have been arrested and 1,000 convicted over mostly gang membership-related charges in El Salvador as part of President Nayib Bukele’s so-called “war on gangs”, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The report includes testimonies of 90 people, among them 66 victims of abuse. Documented are several instances of human rights violations against minors, including coercion into false confessions and, at times, mistreatment and torture.

The arrests began in March 2022, when Bukele announced a state of exception and a set of “mano dura” (“iron fist”) policies aimed at tackling gang violence in what was then the murder capital of the world. By 2023, homicide rates had dropped by 70%, marking an extraordinary turnaround as El Salvador became the country in Latin America with the lowest murder rate.

But human rights activists are quick to stress that this success has come with a high cost, with more than 80,000 people arrested, many of them in what witnesses have described as indiscriminate sweeps.

According to the report, children arrested often come from dangerous and economically disadvantaged communities, where limited access to education and job opportunities make them more vulnerable to recruitment by gangs.

A vague offence minors are often convicted of is “asociaciones ilícitas” or “unlawful assembly”. Convictions for this crime are often based on unverified or conflicted police testimony, but they can lead to prison sentences of up to 20 years, according to the report.

For more on how Bukele’s policies affect at-risk groups, read our interview with Óscar Martínez, editor-in-chief of leading Latin American investigative outlet El Faro:

Women take part in a protest behind a poster that reads: “They were taken alive, we want them alive” at the ombudsman's office to demand help for the release of relatives detained during the government's state of emergency to curb gang violence, in San Salvador, El Salvador November 9, 2023.

The human and humanitarian fallout of El Salvador’s gang crackdown

President Bukele’s state of emergency presents an awkward dilemma for Salvadorians. It has sharply reduced violence, but at what cost?


And for some personal accounts of the complex trade-offs many Salvadorans are facing amid the crackdown, check out this photo feature from Fritz Pinnow:

This is a long shot set in the middle of a park. We see some men with their backs to the camera and facing a wall with their hands on their hands as they are being searched by police.

In El Salvador, peaceful streets carry hidden costs

Many Salvadorans back Bukele’s crackdown on gangs, but rights activists have raised concerns over arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.

Share this article

Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join