El Salvador accumulates 365 days without homicides so far during Bukele's presidency

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced that he has achieved 365 days, a full year, without homicides in El Salvador over the last four years. No other president would have achieved this milestone in the history of the country, which prior to Bukele's arrival to power was experiencing high rates of gang-related violence. Now, the Salvadoran government boasts a homicide rate of 1.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, the lowest rate in Latin America.

The figure celebrated by Bukele does not mean that there have been no homicides in the last year, but rather that in the almost four years of the "bitcoin president's" term in office, he has accumulated 365 non-consecutive days without murders. According to data provided by the Salvadoran National Civil Police, so far in May there have been no fatal crimes. A statement from the Salvadoran Presidency highlights that between 2009 and 2019, the ten years prior to Bukele's term, there was only one day without homicides and an average of 30 murders per day.

Last April, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Guillermo Villatoro, announced that the month had had 24 days without a single homicide. The 10 murders that month made April the "safest month in the history of El Salvador," according to Bukele's right-hand man. Crime figures have improved in El Salvador since the Bukele government launched its territorial control plan to fight crime.

The drop in homicides in El Salvador was more significant when the current president turned his war against the maras into his best trump card to gain popularity. In March 2022, the Government declared a state of emergency to obtain the resources to control the country. Several special detention centers with capacity for thousands of inmates were built in the country to house gang criminals.

Despite repeated complaints from international human rights organizations, Bukele's popularity and positive rating grew after his declaration of the state of emergency. According to Gallup polls, Bukele would be the democratically elected leader with the highest voter rating in all of Latin America with 92% popular support.