El Salvador ended August with another day of zero homicides, according to official data released by the National Civil Police (PNC) early Monday. Records show that Sunday, August 31, closed without violent deaths, bringing the month’s total to 27 days free of homicides.
In 2025, the country has so far registered 204 days without killings. August also marked a historic milestone, as the administration of President Nayib Bukele reached 1,000 days without homicides since 2019, with the current total standing at 1,001. “The security strategies we have implemented continue to deliver historic results,” officials stated.
Most of these achievements have taken place under the state of exception introduced in March 2022, which has now been extended 42 times. The measure has provided security forces with legal tools to dismantle criminal groups, resulting in 887 days of zero homicides under this framework.
Between January and August 2025, El Salvador recorded 203 days without homicides, with February closing with 26 such days, July with 29, and the remaining months averaging 25. Authorities also highlighted that the few homicide cases this year were resolved in record time through the Homicide Resolution Protocol.
Minister of Defense René Francis Merino Monroy noted that the country has seen a homicide reduction of more than 42 percent compared to 2024. Since Bukele took office in 2019, El Salvador’s homicide rate has dropped dramatically, from a peak of over 105 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to just 1.9 in 2024, making it the safest country in the Western Hemisphere.