El Salvador President Announces Release of 8,000 “Wrongly Imprisoned” People
El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, announced the release of 8,000 individuals who were “wrongly imprisoned” as part of the extensive crackdown on gangs that he initiated in 2022.
During a visit to a prison in Costa Rica with his counterpart Rodrigo Chávez, President Bukele stated, “We have released 8,000 people and we will free 100% of the innocent.”
According to reports from non-governmental organizations, among the 83,000 individuals detained without judicial orders under a state of emergency imposed since March 2022, at least 30,000 are innocent. However, Bukele downplayed these figures, asserting that left-wing organizations fabricated the numbers. He remarked, “There is no place in the world where the police are perfect,” adding, “Innocent people are arrested everywhere.”
Bukele also highlighted that the mass arrests have led to a significant drop in the murder rate in El Salvador, which fell to 2.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2023, compared to 18 in 2021 and a record 105 in 2015.
