My recent trip to El Salvador left me speechless as to how safe the country is and how the economy is thriving. The warm and friendly Salvadorans are genuinely happy now. It’s inconceivable to imagine the rampant gang violence that took hold of the country as late as 2015 and 2016. A startling figure shows the country recorded 5,000 homicides in 2016 alone.
In the late 70s and 80s, when the CIA-backed military regimes killed millions in Central America, El Salvador was one of those countries caught in the middle of massacre, assassination, torture and mass murder in the streets. A good friend of mine who grew up in San Salvador from 1976 through 1985 confirmed the political instability, danger and violence that he experienced living there. For a more in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the Central America crisis and tragedy which lays the foundation of our current immigration issues, please refer to an incredible journalistic report by Jonathan Blitzer called “Everyone Who is Gone is Here – The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis”.
When I was in El Salvador, I never felt unsafe. In 2024, homicide rate was 1.9 per 100,000 people, the lowest rate in Latin America. That is a 98% decrease from nine years ago.
The number of the Salvadoran migrants coming through the U.S. border has dropped 20% by 2024. El Salvador is no longer one of the top countries with migrants denied entry or apprehended at the U.S. border today. Top countries are Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia.
January 2025