Nope, this won't be one more thread about El Salvador's Bitcoin adoption. With that being said, let's dive into the subject of this topic.
El Salvador is a small country in Central America that has become extremely popular in the forum in the last few years due to it recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender and attempting to adopt it in its economy on a daily basis. Whether or not this adoption was successful remains unknown. From what I've read, a large number of citizens claimed the early bonuses and never bothered again, so it's hard to say that Bitcoin adoption has been a success, although it's best not to jump to conclusions again.
Now let's jump into the actual subject of this topic. Recently, it has come to the attention of the media that El Salvador, a country that was considered one of the most dangerous in the world, has turned upside down and is ranking as one of the safest countries and the safest in Latin America, lowering the homicide rates by 70%. 154 homicides were recorded in 2023, the lowest in decades.
El Salvador has been struggling with notorious gangs for years, while according to government data, over 120.000 civilian lives have been lost due to gang rivalries, while it was claimed that over 80% of the country's territory was controlled by gangs. The country was declared in a state of emergency in early 2022, which allowed the police to arrest and jail suspected gang members while at the same time suspending their right to an attorney and court approval of preliminary detention. Although this crackdown has severely decreased crime rates in the country, human rights organizations are claiming that the crackdown included abuses, torture, and even deaths in custody. The police have arrested over 75.000 suspected gang members and released 7.000, while human rights groups have reported 190 deaths and over 5.000 cases of abuse.
Although President Nayib Bukele was recently re-elected with over 85% of the votes cast, human rights organizations are calling him a dictator; however, the citizens have ruled that they prefer safer streets rather than supporting human rights.
What's your opinion? Do you support the way president Bukele tackled corruption and crime, or is he rightfully being called a dictator?
Sources:
1.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240205-el-salvador-s-president-bukele-claims-record-reelection-victory2.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/25/el-salvador-crime-human-rights-prisons/3.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-says-murders-fell-70-2023-it-cracked-down-gangs-2024-01-03/