WEBVTT - The Future 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.520 On the last couple of days of my trip to Alsavador, 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.760 I finally got to take some time off reporting and 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:16.040 just relax with my family. One of the first things 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.079 we did was take a tour of the house that 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.280 my parents built in their hometown, San Miguel. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:30.960 It's Okira, yeah there from fourteen. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:34.400 The plot of land that this house is built on 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.680 was bought by my great grandmother almost one hundred years ago. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.320 It's the land where my grandmother was born, then my 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.600 mom and my sisters too, Where there was once only 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.920 a wooden shack on dirt. My parents built a five 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:57.240 bedroom house with concrete walls and ceramic tile floors. 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.560 Yeah, it's nicetyle. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:09.480 It's not the taj Mahal, but it's nice, comfortable and homie, 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.880 and it's nice to see my mom so happy and excited. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.479 And while my mom is really happy to be retired, 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:28.880 my dad's happy too, but for very different reasons. So 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.000 here I am in the finest famous Langer, my mom 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.759 and dad's restaurant that they opened uh next to their 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:38.119 house in San Miguel. 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:39.480 Uh. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.560 It's hard to describe. Behind the house, my dad has 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:50.600 constructed a giant, and I mean giant dance hall slash restaurant. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.440 He named it e Langer the Hangar and made the 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.120 whole place airplane themed for reasons unknown. And on top 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.960 of this restaurant is a life sized single seater metal 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:08.240 plane that my dad welded out of scrap metal. And 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.200 my dad will probably tell everyone that you can see 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.160 it from space, which is not true, but you can 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.880 see it on Google Maps. For Google Maps, you you 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.960 can look down and see the plane that was on 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:25.880 top of my dad's restaurant, Elangarre. The plane is painted 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.600 bright yellow with a red racing stripe down the sides, 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:30.840 and when I asked him how he got it on 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.200 the roof, he told me he paid a crane to 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.959 come and lift it onto the building. On the side 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.440 of the plane is a sticker with the cover art 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.920 for the last show that I made, Princess of South Beach, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.040 which if you need a palate cleanser from this show, 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:51.359 that's a good bet. I have to say I never 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.840 thought this day would come my whole life. My parents 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.519 told us that when they we retired, they wanted to 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.799 go live in El Salvador, that they wanted to live 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:03.680 out their old age in the place that they still 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.760 thought of as home. My dad has dreamed of opening 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.200 this restaurant and getting to MC karaoke nights here his 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:17.200 entire life, but that just never really seemed like a possibility. 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.280 It was dangerous to open a business here. You didn't 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.079 know how much trouble the gangs were going to give 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.560 you if they let you do it at all. But 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.320 in twenty twenty one, after spending their whole lives working 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.000 in the US, my parents finally felt confident enough to 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:38.440 do it. And there's one person who my mom credits 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:47.560 with making that happens book. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:55.320 So Lueirasier was penctralive. 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:58.160 General. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.440 Yes, I guess a really. 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:14.400 President naib Bukele. My dad loves to tease my mom 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:20.159 about how much she loves him. In twenty nineteen, naib 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.920 Bukele became president of El Salvador and the sole focus 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.200 of his administration was getting rid of the gangs to 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.000 make El Salvador a safe place to live, and in 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:35.839 large part he has done that. There is finally peace 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.360 in El Salvador, but the price for that piece has 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:50.960 been very, very steep. I'm Jasmine Romero and this is 0:04:51.080 --> 0:05:16.720 sacred Scandal. Nation of Saints episode ten the Future. On 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.839 a hot summer morning in twenty nineteen, a then thirty 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.960 seven year old Naive Bugle walks across the steps of 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:29.279 the National Palace in San Salvador. It's across the plaza 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.520 from La Catrel, the cathedral where Oscar Romero's funeral was held, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.560 and just like that day almost forty years ago, the 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:43.200 plaza is filled with Salvadorans, but this time they're not 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:48.480 crying tears of mourning. They're openly weeping with tears of joy. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.600 Bukele has a thick black beard and slicked back hair. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.320 He stands smiling before his adoring crowd, and he's wrapped 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.520 in a blue and white sash that's emblazoned with the 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:11.520 crest of the Salvadoran flag. This young man has just 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:15.280 become the first person to win the Salvadoran presidency as 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:20.680 part of a new party, No Lessivas, No Ideas, and 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.680 this party it's important for a lot of reasons, but 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.520 mainly because it's considered an alternative to the two parties 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.520 that have been in power since the end of the war. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.320 The FMLN and ARENA have taken turns running the government 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.560 since nineteen ninety two, and both sides have been charged 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:44.480 with corruption. Presidents from both parties have been convicted of 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:49.480 embezzling millions of dollars, all while the country plunged further 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.400 and further into gang controlled violence. And so, in many ways, 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.279 Bouken's rise is seen as a rejection of the politics 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.720 of the war embrace of a newer, more relevant kind 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.520 of politics. So on this sunny day, Bucele steps up 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.880 to the mic like a preacher on the pulpit to 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:10.760 address the nation. 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:16.840 Nostro pays is common inia fermo No sto cara toos 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:24.040 puiarlo no stock calorratos tom marga, No sto caloratoos so 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:36.880 freedom pocomermandos. 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:33.760 Familia. 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:40.720 And he tells the crowd, our country is like a 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.800 sick child and it's up to all of us to 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:49.000 take care of it, even if that means drinking medicina 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:54.480 a marga, bitter medicine. But the crowd doesn't flinch. They 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.880 love him, and it's clear to see why. He's a 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.200 young man with an excellent smile and a ton of charisma. 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:03.679 Nod. 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.280 When coming into office, Bugle's big promise to the people 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.880 of El Salvador was to get rid of the gangs 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:33.280 MS thirteen and Barrio gangs that had terrorized the population 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.600 for decades and given the country the title of murder 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.920 capital of the world. But to get rid of those gangs, 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:48.599 Bugle needed money, lots of it. Within six months of 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.959 taking office, Bugle asked the Legislative Assembly the salvador In 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.920 Congress to pass a two hundred million dollars spending bill. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:58.160 To pay for. 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:04.599 Oral his plan to combat the gangs. But there was 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.240 a lot of questions about exactly how that money would 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:13.360 be used. Buchen's administration claimed that he couldn't reveal that 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:18.160 information because the plans were all top secret, and when 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.720 he couldn't provide answers for how he would spend the money, 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.720 the Legislative Assembly signaled that they wouldn't pass the bill, 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:48.720 which really pissed off Bugle claimed that this was all 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.839 a game of dirty politics, that the members of the 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.040 Assembly were just working against him because he wasn't part 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.840 of their political parties at AA and the f MLN. 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.280 He told the legislatives, sent you have until this weekend 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.280 to get me the money or else, And by the 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.000 weekend the world got a taste of the bitter medicine 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:11.480 that Bugle had promised. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.640 The country's soldiers entered the building while President Naib was 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.640 about to address lawmakers. The soldiers were armed with automatic weapons. 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.120 The reason for such action was to step up the 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.240 pressure on lawmakers to force them to back a proposed 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:27.319 plan to fight crime. 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.040 On February ninth, twenty twenty, Bucele stormed the Assembly building 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.040 with forty armed soldiers behind him to preside over the 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:45.400 voting and ensure that his bill passed. It was a 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.679 move straight out of an authoritarian textbook, and it made 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.599 headlines around the world, condemning this action as anti democratic. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.160 COSEI miiuel vivanco victoria hum and RAI watch par las 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:05.839 America's opin to Kenixsimi soon for urgent organization The americanos. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:17.280 Cordo a military military age user algo vierno. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.920 Is tamos protestando ericamente tito. 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.960 Singressol latio. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:33.199 But in El Salvador it drew cheering crowds. It was 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.000 seen as a power move by someone who was finally 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.719 willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:44.080 the gangs. Bukele even leaned into the international fame changing 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:51.319 his Twitter bio to quote the world's coolest dictator. In 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.000 the end, buccell got the money that he needed and 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.880 he got to work executing his grand vision for Al Salvador, 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.719 one that included a lot of big, flashy projects. He 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.560 invested in the now famous Surf City, an entire beach 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.440 town sponsored by the government to promote El Salvador as 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.559 a global surf destination, And in perhaps the flashiest and 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.679 most confusing move, Bugle made bitcoin one of the official 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:20.600 legal currencies in El Salvador. 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:29.000 De Bitcoin lawmakers in El Salvador broke into applause after 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.720 voting to approve bitcoin as legal tender on Wednesday, making 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.719 the Central American country the first in the world to 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.120 fully adopt the cryptocurrency. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:45.000 And while these things might sound a little outlandish for Salvadorans, 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:50.319 it was really a breath of fresh air. For once 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.600 the world was hearing a story about us that wasn't 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:58.200 about gangs or death and destruction. It was something good, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:04.160 or at least it was something different. Plus, Bucele might 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.360 be a little eccentric, but his plans seemed to be working. 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.000 Within the first two years of his presidency, the murder 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:16.839 rate dropped by fifty two percent. To be fair, the 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.320 murder rate had already been on the decline since it's 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.520 high in twenty fifteen, but still, even for people living 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:28.720 in the US, people like my parents, the progress Bugele 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.160 was making was clear. 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:42.440 El siempre siempre quiso di questuviera el pa mejor peroo pora. 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:51.920 Yes, my parents had always wanted to come back to Alsavor, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.560 and while my dad was a little more cavalier about 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.200 the threat of gang violence, my mom was more fearful. 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.719 She worried about being extorted or threatened. But with the 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.920 progress that Bugele was making, my mom finally felt confident 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.360 enough to sell their home in the United States, and 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.520 in twenty twenty one they moved to San Miguel permanently, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.880 to the house that they had spent a lifetime building. 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.840 Twenty twenty one is also the year that Bugele's party 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:31.880 Novasiveas overwhelmingly won seats in the Legislative Assembly, and that 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:37.600 Legislative Assembly promptly voted to oust five sitting Supreme Court 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:42.640 justices and basically got the entire judicial branch of the government. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.640 In doing so, cases across the country were dropped in 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.720 an instant, including one seeking justice for the victims of Elmosote. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:57.360 But again this move drew cheers from many, as Bugle 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.280 insisted that these were necessary steps to weed out corruption 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:06.240 and fight the gangs. With the murder rate under control 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.880 and the country rapidly drawing more bitcoin and surf tourists, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.280 it seems like Bugel could do no wrong. That is 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.360 until the weekend of March twenty seventh of twenty twenty two. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.320 Tonight about that is under state of emergency after a 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.440 deadly weekend of gang violence, the National Civil Police reporting 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.400 fourteen people murdered on Friday and sixty two the following day, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.720 making Saturday one of the deadliest days in thirty years. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.400 Over two thousand arrests made in just four days in 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.280 response to one of the bloodiest weekends in the country 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.360 in thirty years, the National Civil Police reporting sixty two 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.240 homicides on Saturday alone. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:53.880 All over the country, there were reports of murders and 0:15:54.040 --> 0:16:00.360 not gang shootouts, seemingly random murders. In the span of 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.680 a weekend, eighty seven people were killed in El Salvador. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.040 One body was even hauntingly laid out on the road 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:18.800 to Bucelees, surf city, after the break the message behind these. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:36.440 Murders Tonight, El Salvador is under state of emergency after 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.320 a deadly weekend of gang violence. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.920 After all the progress made, it really felt like a 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.040 slap in the face for Salvadorans to have the deadliest 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:52.320 weekend on record in more than a century. These murders 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.640 were of seemingly innocent civilians, and all the reports signaled 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.760 that they were carried out by gang members, gangs that 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:06.359 President Bugle claimed to have under control. The murders seemed 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.440 to be a direct message aimed at the president himself, 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:13.600 news that he did not take lightly. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:25.000 Las amb Salvador solicitude the president and najib rehimen deception 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:33.760 an alpais queda palo el projecto treto ke containing rejimeng 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:35.280 de escepsion. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.520 In an emergency session of the Legislative Assembly, Bukele called 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:47.040 for unestallo de excepcion, a state of exception. What Bukele 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.000 was asking for was an immediate suspension of civil liberties 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.399 once guaranteed in the constitution, so that he could declare 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.280 all out war on the gangs, and with his party 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:05.000 controlling judicial and legislative branches, the state of exception easily passed. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.280 Within that state of exception, the government could now arrest 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:16.120 anyone for any reason. There would be no presumption of innocence, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.880 no need for warrants, and no guarantee for when you'd 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:24.120 be released. Agents of the state could come and pick 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.920 you up on the mere suspicion that you were a 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:32.280 gang member. Bukelet also approved the use of deadly force 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:38.240 for officers of the state. Overnight, billboards went up across 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.840 the country showing the number for tip lines, where you 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:45.560 could anonymously report anyone who you thought might be in 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:50.320 a gang or affiliated with one. I even saw a 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:54.240 couple on my trip on the highway there was a 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:59.119 sign listed or I guess like a billboard over the 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.040 highway that's said, with your tax dollars, we keep fighting 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.800 the gangs. And there was a phone number and it 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:12.480 said declare your rent, meaning the rent that people paid 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:18.360 monthly to the gangs to keep them from bothering them. 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.160 But it wasn't just gang members that they were after. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.639 It was anyone who could be affiliated with the gangs. 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.639 You could be arrested for being a collaborator, someone suspected 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.080 of giving the gangs information or money, or of hiding 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:39.159 a gang member. Within days of the state of exception 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.760 being declared, the Bukee administration sent the police and military 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:48.800 out to conduct massive raids. Thousands of people were rounded 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:52.680 up and sent to processing centers. Children as young as 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:57.639 twelve were sent into overcrowded prison cells to await processing 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:03.480 in the now backlogged judicialsts. Between March and December of 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.760 twenty twenty two, over sixty thousand people were detained by 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:13.920 Bugeli's administration, and to hold all of these arrested people, 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.720 Bugele approved the building of a megaprison with a capacity 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.679 for forty thousand people, one of the largest in the world. 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.280 The Terrorism Confinement Center can fit up to forty thousand 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.200 inmates and is considered to be the largest jail in 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:30.960 the Americas. 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.440 The president announced that he was moving thousands of high 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.600 ranking gang members to the country's new so called mega jail. 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:45.240 It looks like a sea of skin and tattoos. These 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.159 images released by El Salvador's government shows the transfer of 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:51.320 about two thousand inmates. 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:58.800 Human rights groups around the globe criticized these actions, saying 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.200 that the roundups were accept that many of those detained 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:07.160 and arrested had no verifiable connection with the gangs. Tebukele 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.960 and his government were using the state of exception to 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:16.359 arrest and threaten those who opposed his regime, including environmental activists, journalists, 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:21.439 and academics in opposition to the administration, and that abuses 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:27.000 and death were happening within the prison system. But still 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:33.119 the Salvadoran people supported the president all over social media, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.840 Salvadorans snapped back at the president's critics. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.440 How can you be worried about criminals human rights? 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.639 They didn't care about our human rights when they killed us. 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:48.000 Anyone who criticizes the government is for the gangs and 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:49.400 should be arrested. 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.680 If some innocent people have to suffer to get rid 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.159 of the gangs, it's worth it. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:59.000 It feels weird to say this, but on a certain 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:03.879 level I get it. Looking across the last forty years 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:09.200 at how much the Salvadoran people have suffered. What price 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:13.600 wouldn't they be willing to pay for peace, for a 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:19.240 chance that their children could grow up in safety. And anyway, 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.879 it was the gangs who provoked him, right, They're the 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:25.040 ones who killed almost one hundred people in a weekend. 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.040 Well as it turns out. 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.600 For the mostly Confianza. 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.400 But miyao, mi mono. 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:43.560 What you're hearing is a conversation between a senior member 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:47.400 of the Bugle administration and a leader of MS thirteen. 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.520 Remember in twenty twenty one when the murder rate dropped 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:55.679 by fifty percent. Well, as it turns out, that's because 0:22:55.720 --> 0:23:00.399 Bugle had a pact with the gangs basedummer reporting by 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:03.879 the Salvador news outlet El Faro. In exchange for lowering 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:08.520 the murdery, the Bukele administration agreed to give preferential treatment 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.520 to high ranking gang members in prison. That's what this 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:21.640 conversation we're listening to is about, Antossente Royer. In the recording, 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:24.680 a Bugle official is talking to a gang leader and 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.960 telling them how much their administration has done to show 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:32.000 them its loyalty and good faith, and he even admits 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:36.040 to personally escorting a gang leader named Elgruk from his 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:39.320 prison cell in El Salvador across the border to freedom 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:46.720 in Guatemala. It was the breakdown of these negotiations that 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:49.639 led to the spike in murders during that deadly weekend 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:54.200 in March of twenty twenty two. The reactions to this 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:58.320 news from the public have varied. Some of Bukeli's supporters 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.440 say that the news is fake, that Ilfaro is simply 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:04.199 against the president and working in service of the gangs. 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:08.200 Others say that the president was justified in doing whatever 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:09.959 he needed to do to get rid of the gangs, 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:15.400 even if that includes these kinds of negotiations. Either way, 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:20.320 the reports of these negotiations didn't affect the president's approval ratings, 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:35.080 which are currently around ninety two percent. In September of 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:37.879 twenty twenty two, as Bugel was nearing the end of 0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:41.000 his term as president, he decided to address the country 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:45.600 for a special announcement. The venue stood in stark contrast 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:49.200 to the sunny morning when he took office. Instead of 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:52.560 the open steps of the National Palace, the announcement took 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:55.679 place in a darkened conference room well into the night. 0:24:56.760 --> 0:24:59.879 In place of the adoring crowds, a small group of 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.760 well dressed officials and foreign dignitaries stood clapping, welcoming Bugle 0:25:05.080 --> 0:25:10.160 to take his place at the dais. Behind the president 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:13.680 is a towering portrait of a man dressed in white 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:18.960 robes with a cross necklace draped across his chest. It's 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:22.159 a portrait of a man with some seriously enviable eyebrows, 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:26.600 whose face carries the weight of the entire salvadorn people. 0:25:28.160 --> 0:25:32.280 The man, of course, is Oscar Romero, who was named 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:38.280 saint in twenty eighteen. President Bucele steps in front of 0:25:38.320 --> 0:25:41.320 the portrait of Oscar Romero and proceeds to tell the 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:44.560 audience that he plans to run for president once again. 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:56.880 Esporeso quefamilia ano esi correcom candiato a preci. 0:26:10.160 --> 0:26:15.160 The audience collaps. No one is surprised, despite the fact 0:26:15.400 --> 0:26:19.120 that this move goes directly against the constitution of El Salvador. 0:26:20.640 --> 0:26:24.640 According to that constitution, no president is allowed to remain 0:26:24.680 --> 0:26:29.680 in office for two consecutive terms. To run again is 0:26:29.760 --> 0:26:32.960 the equivalent of an American president running for a third time. 0:26:34.520 --> 0:26:38.200 But Bugele doesn't care. With the support of so much 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:41.560 of the Salvadoran population behind him, he knows that this 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:47.880 rule doesn't apply to him, and he's right. The unconstitutionality 0:26:47.920 --> 0:26:52.440 won't matter, and in February of twenty twenty four, Bugele 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:57.400 easily wins his second term. With his win, he controls 0:26:57.520 --> 0:27:01.960 all three branches of government, such all the power in 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:08.159 El Salvador outside a full military guard stands at attention. 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:15.119 Since implementing the state of exception, almost ninety thousand people 0:27:15.440 --> 0:27:19.879 have been arrested in Al Salvador. At least two hundred 0:27:19.880 --> 0:27:23.800 and forty people have died in police custody, and while 0:27:23.840 --> 0:27:25.760 the murder rate is now one of the lowest in 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:31.400 the world, reports of disappearances are up, and it's hard 0:27:31.520 --> 0:27:34.920 to get a solid number on exactly how many because 0:27:34.920 --> 0:27:40.800 Bugeli's administration has changed the way it counts disappearances, but 0:27:40.960 --> 0:27:44.120 human rights organizations say that there are over twenty eight 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:55.560 thousand cases of disappearances currently open in El Salvador. After 0:27:55.680 --> 0:27:59.720 making this series and seeing how much death and destruction 0:28:00.200 --> 0:28:04.119 came from the hands of the government, Bugeles rise is 0:28:04.280 --> 0:28:10.240 really scary to me. Salvador in history is full of 0:28:10.359 --> 0:28:15.520 governments using order as a justification for horrendous acts of violence. 0:28:17.440 --> 0:28:22.160 There are always innocent people who are collateral damage, whether 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:27.879 they're peasants or priests, or student activists or my Dia Margarita. 0:28:30.080 --> 0:28:32.840 I went on this journey to understand my family and 0:28:32.920 --> 0:28:36.399 our history, and over the course of the last two years, 0:28:37.400 --> 0:28:41.240 I've realized that our story isn't just ours. It's the 0:28:41.320 --> 0:28:45.400 story of a country and a history that's too easy 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:50.760 to repeat. Seeing the military on our streets, searching people 0:28:50.840 --> 0:28:55.320 at bus stops, arresting people with impunity, it all just 0:28:55.400 --> 0:28:58.520 looks like the start of the same cycle over again. 0:29:01.560 --> 0:29:04.160 But my mom, she sees it differently. 0:29:05.560 --> 0:29:14.040 With Mirida Tingos Struta Viatopor Nadi Nipo, al kal Nipur 0:29:14.160 --> 0:29:24.280 presidentes Piro alfink Pusami Esperanza, sen Al yinqus Promtiplin though 0:29:25.320 --> 0:29:27.680 he is naibuke. 0:29:28.840 --> 0:29:31.040 My mom had never voted in a savador In election 0:29:31.400 --> 0:29:35.920 before twenty nineteen. Since she left the country as a teenager, 0:29:36.680 --> 0:29:40.120 she's watched a government after government come in and failed 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:44.320 to protect its own people, first the death squads and 0:29:44.400 --> 0:29:49.640 the war, and then the gangs. After spending a lifetime 0:29:49.880 --> 0:29:53.200 waiting for Al Savador to be safe, the fact that 0:29:53.280 --> 0:29:56.560 Bukela has made the country livable for her is enough 0:29:57.080 --> 0:29:58.640 to win her love and support. 0:30:00.760 --> 0:30:05.320 Ike boys. 0:30:20.440 --> 0:30:22.680 In a world where you have to choose between freedom 0:30:22.920 --> 0:30:28.480 and safety, safety wins every time. Al Savor now holds 0:30:28.520 --> 0:30:31.440 the title for the country with the highest incarceration rate 0:30:31.520 --> 0:30:35.720 per capita in the world, and bus approval rating has 0:30:35.800 --> 0:30:39.800 never been higher. My mom is part of the ninety 0:30:39.800 --> 0:30:42.920 two percent of Salvadorans who say they approve of the 0:30:42.960 --> 0:30:51.680 president's actions. On one of my last days in al Savador, 0:30:52.280 --> 0:30:54.120 my parents decided that we should take a trip to 0:30:54.160 --> 0:30:58.400 a nearby beach, Elkuco. It's about a thirty minute drive 0:30:58.400 --> 0:31:02.120 away from my parents' house. My mom called up Mitiavilma 0:31:02.400 --> 0:31:04.760 to see if she wanted to come too, and she 0:31:04.960 --> 0:31:07.600 said yes, but only if she could bring along my 0:31:07.640 --> 0:31:12.480 little cousin, Anguel Jokin. He's seven and he rarely gets 0:31:12.520 --> 0:31:16.200 a chance to go to the beach. Angueil Jokin's mother, 0:31:16.640 --> 0:31:20.000 my cousin Carmen, is in prison for being in a gang. 0:31:21.320 --> 0:31:27.600 His father is too. Back when Mitia Margarrita died, Mitiavilma 0:31:27.680 --> 0:31:31.400 took in her kids and now she's raising a new 0:31:31.520 --> 0:31:41.920 generation of kids left behind, including Angheljokin. We all pile 0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:44.840 into my dad's pickup truck and head off to Alkugo. 0:31:46.360 --> 0:31:48.080 I remember trips like this when I was a kid. 0:31:49.040 --> 0:31:51.000 Every time we came to visit. We had to go 0:31:51.080 --> 0:31:54.000 to Alkugo and need some fresh fish and play in 0:31:54.040 --> 0:31:58.800 the warm ocean water. The beach is different now there 0:31:58.800 --> 0:32:02.520 are more resorts and the streets are better paved, but 0:32:02.600 --> 0:32:05.040