El Salvador went from being one of the most dangerous countries in the world to becoming one of the safest territories in the region, having the lowest daily homicide rate thanks to the implementation of the Territorial Control Plan (PCT), the security strategy devised by President Nayib Bukele in June 2019 and reinforced with the war against the gangs starting on March 27 of this year on a national scale.

In three years and four months of the Bukele administration, the country with the lowest percentage of murders in Central America has been located and is on its way to being the safest country in Latin America, a situation that is far from what the ARENA governments inherited. and the FMLN, when up to 30 homicides per day were averaged.

«0 homicides. The most important human right is the right to life. We continue… #GuerraContraGangs”, is the reaction of the Salvadoran president to learn of a new day without violent deaths in the country.

The work of the National Civil Police and the Armed Forces as part of the solid security strategy has achieved in El Salvador less than one homicide per day (0.7 rate), followed by Panama with 1.1, Costa Rica reports 1.7, and while Guatemala reports 12 violent deaths per day, Honduras is the most violent in the Central American region with 13 murders per day.

Official statistics from Mexico report 86 crimes a day, Colombia registers 36, and Ecuador an average of 10.1.

An effective strategy

The first semesters of the government of President Bukele (2020, 2021, and 2022) became the safest periods in the recent history of El Salvador, adding 1,682 homicides when compared to a similar period of the administration of former President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, in which there were 7,710 violent deaths nationwide, according to official data.

And when comparing it with the government of Mauricio Funes, the data shows that in the first half of 2013 there were 1,057 homicides and 1,849 in 2014; both periods correspond to the FMLN government. In light of the statistics, the Sánchez Cerén administration was the most violent, since in the first six months of 2015 there were 2,865 homicides, the highest peak was in 2016, with 3,060 murders; the lowest peaks were in 2017 (1,785), 2018 (1,810), and 2019 (1,575).

With the arrival of President Bukele and the implementation of the PCT, Salvadorans have begun to perceive a historic reduction in homicidal violence since the second half of 2019. Between January 1 and June 30, 2020, they reported 596 violent deaths. In 2021, there were 637, and 449 violent deaths in 2022.