Get you up to speed: El Salvador Vice-President Félix Ulloa defends gang crackdown in Europe
El Salvador experienced a record low of 114 homicides in 2024, significantly down from 6,656 in 2015, amid a controversial anti-gang campaign.
European Parliament members expressed concerns over potential human rights violations in El Salvador amid the nation’s ongoing crackdown on gang violence and emergency measures.
Félix Ulloa is set to address a conference organised by the European Reformists and Conservatives group at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Key developments
El Salvador’s Vice-President Félix Ulloa defended the country’s anti-gang measures, labelling them as “the miracle of Bukele,” dismissing criticism from European media as biased.
Since President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown, the homicide rate has plummeted, with 2024 recording only 114 murders, compared to a staggering 6,656 in 2015.
Ulloa confirmed that over 83,000 individuals have been arrested under Bukele’s policies, citing the inauguration of a controversial mega prison, CECOT, as a pivotal element in this transformation.
Full report
El Salvador’s Vice-President Félix Ulloa defended President Nayib Bukele’s anti-gang measures in an interview with EU News, asserting that any dissent comes from “woke and left-wing European media.” He spoke while preparing for a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Under Bukele’s leadership since 2019, El Salvador has seen a significant drop in crime, with a record low of 114 homicides in 2024 compared to 6,656 in 2015. Despite this improvement, critics raise concerns about authoritarianism, particularly following Bukele’s extended “state of exception” which grants emergency powers amid ongoing crime reduction efforts.
“Democracy is about the people, and the people feel safe,” Ulloa stated, pushing back against claims of an increasingly militarised state. Critics, however, highlight issues such as arbitrary arrests, with over 83,000 detained since 2022 under Bukele’s crackdown. Human rights groups argue that many of these arrests lack proper due process.
As Bukele was re-elected with approximately 85% of the vote in 2024, Ulloa dismissed allegations of democratic erosion. He contended that if the people support him, their will should be respected, framing the government’s actions as aligned with public safety rather than authoritarianism.
Full reading
Published on
El Salvador’s Vice-President Félix Ulloa fiercely defended his country’s crackdown on criminal gangs in what he described as “the miracle of Bukele” in an interview with EU News, saying only the woke and left-wing European media disagree.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Ulloa, a lawyer by training, is one of the key engineers of an unprecedented state-led operation to eliminate gang violence under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has been in power since 2019. The criminality rate in what used to be one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America has collapsed, but critics point to an increasingly authoritarian turn.
“El Salvador is not militarised, and it’s not a police state. You are wrong,” he said on EU News’ interview programme 12 Minutes With in Brussels, as he prepared to address a conference organised by the European Reformists and Conservatives (ECR) group at the European Parliament. This political family also includes MEPs of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy.
“Show me one European leader who has Bukele’s popularity. They wish they could get his numbers,” he said while pointing to a newspaper clipping. “None of them, certainly not the ones that have criticised us, can do this. In El Salvador, we are 100% safe.”
El Salvador ended 2024 with a record low 114 homicides compared to 6,656 killings in 2015 in violent shootings among gangs or clashes with security forces. In 2022, a wave of violence saw 62 people killed in a single day by gangs. As a result, Bukele was granted emergency powers and the “state of exception” has remained in place since.
So far, there is little indication that Bukele will lift it even as crime declines and human rights activists warn of an erosion of the constitution and abuse of power. Ulloa pushed back, saying, “democracy is about the people, and the people feel safe.”
But this approach is not without flaws.
Since 2022, as Bukele cracked down on gangs, more than 83,000 people have been arrested in El Salvador. A mega prison known as CECOT, or Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in Spanish, was inaugurated in 2023 and has become the symbol of the country’s transformation. Pictures have emerged of packed cells and inmates piling on to each other in small confinement areas serving as “warning”, according to Ulloa.
“I understand that it can shock (Europeans), but there is a subliminal message. Before, these guys would pose and make gestures, like celebrating. Now, when you see those pictures, it’s clear you don’t want to end up there,” he told EU News.
Yet, some of the people held in prison should not even be there, according to human rights groups, who point to arbitrary arrests, detentions without due process and sentences handed without evidence of wrongdoing.
“There can be some mistakes that are made. You don’t make mistakes here? They don’t make mistakes in France. In Spain?” he said. “And we have liberated some 8,000.”
Bukele was re-elected president of El Salvador in 2024 with a landslide majority close to 85% of the vote and has floated an unlimited term after the constitution was amended last year. Asked if that represented an erosion of democratic standards, Ulloa told EU News, “absolutely not…. demos means the people. And if they want him…”