Brokers: Lynchpins of the Precursor Chemical Flow to Mexico
When Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea contacted her chemical suppliers in China on behalf of a new client, she needed to…
Keeping a Lid on Prisons
Diego* was thrown into prison just days after El Salvador’s state of emergency began. A 22-year-old university student, he had…
‘Too Many Soldiers’: How Bukele’s Crackdown Succeeded Where Others Failed
Before the administration of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, no government had succeeded in breaking up the country’s vaunted and…
The Road to El Salvador’s State of Emergency
The road to El Salvador’s state of emergency has been long and bloody. The small Central American nation spent decades…
The Future Looks Bleak for El Salvador’s Gangs
On a scorching July afternoon at an urban park in El Salvador’s Apopa municipality, just north of capital city San…
Gangs on the Run: How Bukele’s Crackdown Drove Gangs Underground
It was mid-October 2022 when Felipe,* a heavily-tattooed former member of El Salvador’s largest street gang finally escaped the government’s…
How Bukele’s Government Overpowered Gangs: Summary & Major Findings
In March 2022, the government of El Salvador launched one of the most relentless security crackdowns in its history in…
The Resistance at Mocorón River
Over 60 Indigenous Miskito leaders and representatives are gathered in a Catholic church in the town of Mocorón, a village…
When Death Flew Over the Ébano Lagoon
It was about 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of September 16, 2021, when the Bell H1-1H, with the registration number…
When Cocaine Comes to Paradise
March 2023. Late afternoon. Puerto Lempira, Honduras. In front of the Tansin Lagoon, Moreno and Brutus, two Indigenous Miskito locals,…