The unprecedented trial of 486 alleged members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) began this week in El Salvador. A showcase of the anti-gang fight led by President Nayib Bukele, the audience illustrates both the security efficiency claimed by the government and the growing concerns about the authoritarian excesses of the regime.

Published on: 04/23/2026 - 10:56 Modified on: 04/24/2026 - 1:43 p.m.

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Hundreds of figures with shaved heads, dressed in white, chained at the hands and feet. The image, released by the Salvadoran authorities, has become one of the most striking symbols of President Nayib Bukele's security policy. It was captured during the opening, on April 20, of an extraordinary trial targeting 486 men suspected of being members of Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, and accused of tens of thousands of crimes.

This trial, presented as the largest ever organized against the leadership of a gang in El Salvador, concerns “47,000 offenses and crimes committed between 2012 and 2022”, including 29,000 homicides, according to the prosecution. The accused also face charges of femicide, extortion, drug and arms trafficking, as well as “rebellion” for attempting to impose territorial control assimilated to a “parallel state”.

Since the establishment of the state of exception in March 2022, El Salvador prides itself on having eradicated the “maras”, the gangs which terrorized the population. In four years, nearly 91,000 people have been incarcerated, with the country now boasting the highest detention rate in the world, with around 1,650 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, according to data provided by international organizations.

A large number of them are locked up in ultra-secure prisons, such as Cecot (Terrorism Containment Center), located in Tecoluca, east of the capital. Opened in 2023, this establishment has become the symbol of the government's zero tolerance policy. In this trial, more than 400 defendants are detained there and attend the hearings by videoconference.

See alsoSalvador: autocratic President Bukele against the gangs

A security strategy transformed into a war story

"This trial is part of a political continuity: eradicating the insecurity linked to the kidnappings and assassinations of the 'maras'", analyzes Pascal Drouhaud, specialist in Latin America and associated researcher at the Choiseul Institute. “Restoring security on the national territory is the red line of Nayib Bukele’s mandates.”

In this political narrative constructed since his arrival in power in 2019, the Salvadoran president fully assumes a logic of confrontation. He presents himself as engaged in a “war” against gangs, a rhetoric widely relayed by official communication, notably via the hashtag #GuerraContraPandillas (war against gangs) used recurrently on social networks. On Wednesday, Nayib Bukele even compared the MS-13 trial to the Nuremberg trials on X, invoking "command responsibility" to justify the collective judgment of gang leaders.

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For Pascal Drouhaud, this approach is part of an assumed political construction: "Nayib Bukele develops a national novel, that of a country at war against the 'maras'. He considers this war to be more violent than the civil war." In this logic, continues the expert, "gang members are not perceived as ordinary delinquents. For him, they are terrorists."

A qualification reinforced by the decision of the United States by Donald Trump – who refers to him as a “great friend” – to classify MS-13 as a terrorist organization in February 2025. Still, this rhetoric raises questions. “This speech of liberation carried by Nayib Bukele can become dangerous, because it legitimizes ever more advanced actions,” warns the researcher.

See also Nayib Bukele, all-powerful president of El Salvador

“El Salvador is no longer a democracy in the classic sense”

The results put forward by the government support this strategy. El Salvador, long considered one of the most violent countries in the world, now has a historically low homicide rate: 1.3 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, compared to 106 in 2015. Nayib Bukele prides himself on having "made the murder capital of the world the safest country in the Western Hemisphere".

This drastic fall is accompanied by a decline in extortion and a visible weakening of the gangs' territorial influence. Many members hid, fled or abandoned their areas of influence. However, the security services believe that these organizations are not completely dismantled. They would retain residual networks and a capacity, albeit reduced, for reorganization.

This security success comes at a cost in terms of legal guarantees, denounce many NGOs. The state of emergency has suspended fundamental rights, including the right to be informed of the reasons for one's detention and access to a lawyer. The duration of detention without presentation to a judge has been reduced from 72 hours to 15 days, and interception of communications can be carried out without a warrant.

For Human Rights Watch, these mass trials pose a major problem. “They benefit from no fundamental guarantee of due process and increase the risk of convicting innocent people who have nothing to do with the gangs that have terrorized the country for decades,” warns Juan Pappier, deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch.

NGOs also denounce serious abuses: more than 500 deaths in detention, cases of torture and thousands of arbitrary arrests. "Gangs are no longer a threat. From now on, it is the State which concentrates power and control of the streets with the police and the army", explains Ana Maria Mendez Dardon, director for Central America of the NGO Wola (Washington Office on Latin America), on the Spanish antenna of France 24. "The cost (of Bukele's policy) has been very high: it keeps a population in a permanent state of fear."

Read alsoIn the collective trials of El Salvador, “innocents tried with the criminals”

This criticism questions the very functioning of institutions. “Today there is no counter-power capable of curbing the actions of the Salvadoran authorities,” says Juan Pappier. "El Salvador is no longer a democracy in the classic sense: there is no longer a real separation of powers. Judges cannot rule against the government or the security forces, and parliamentarians are content to ratify the decisions of the executive." In this context, he continues, "victims of human rights violations find themselves without recourse. They have nowhere to go when they suffer abuse."

A tipping point for public freedoms

Although the measures taken by the Salvadoran president contravene the principles of the rule of law and democracy, Nayib Bukele remains extremely popular. Re-elected in February 2024 with 85% of the vote, he enjoys massive public support. According to the latest opinion survey carried out by the CID Gallup institute in February, 93% of Salvadorans approve of his management of the country and 89% express a feeling of pride in their leader.

This support is largely explained by the breakdown in security in a country long traumatized by gang violence. For a large part of the population, the possibility of living without fear of extortion or assassinations outweighs concerns related to public freedoms.

Read alsoIn El Salvador, the missing, largely forgotten by Bukele's politics

Beyond Salvadoran borders, this strategy is attracting growing interest. Several Latin American leaders, like Chilean Presidents José Antonio Kast and Ecuadorian Daniel Noboa, claim the "Bukele model", based on a return to order and security.

For Pascal Drouhaud, a milestone is being reached: "We are reaching a tipping point. Nayib Bukele is pushing his security logic to the end, particularly with the generalization of collective trials or even life imprisonment from the age of 12. The question now is to know what the next chapter will be," he concludes.

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