Caribbean & Central America - March 2026

On 15 February El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele claimed that the navy had seized 6.6 tonnes (t) of cocaine worth some US$165m in what he described as the country’s biggest single drug seizure. His claim comes amid other security successes trumpeted by his administration, whose hardline security initiatives, including the implementation of a state of exception which has been in place since March 2022, and a mass incarceration policy, remain very popular despite ongoing human rights concerns.

Writing on social media, Bukele said that during the operation, which took place 380 nautical miles south-west of the country’s shores, 10 alleged drug traffickers were detained: four Colombians; three Nicaraguans; two Panamanians; and an Ecuadorean. Bukele’s claim followed a 6 January press conference by the country’s defence minister, René Merino, in which he said that 25.01t of drugs had been seized in 2025, worth US$620m, up from 17.22t in 2024 (worth US$422.77m). He said that of the 25.01t total, cocaine seizures accounted for 22.53t. The latest report from the US State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), published in March 2025, notes that El Salvador is a transit country for illicit drugs although due to El Salvador’s “vigorous interdiction efforts, drug trafficking organizations largely avoid passing through El Salvador by land and rather attempt transit by sea”.

The government has also hailed other security achievements. On 5 January Justice and Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro claimed 2025 was the safest year in “the country’s history”, with just 82 homicides committed, down from 114 in 2024, and equivalent to a rate of 1.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Indeed, the latest (February 2025) annual homicide round-up published by specialist website Insight Crime already showed El Salvador to have the lowest homicide rate (at 1.9 per 100,000) in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Nonetheless, Insight Crime points out that the data may “overstate how comprehensive the reduction in violence has been” as the Bukele government does not follow the “Bogotá Protocol, the standard for measuring homicides in the region, so its murder rate cannot be directly compared to other countries that do”. Insight Crime also highlights a lack of transparency, making it harder to access data in El Salvador and the fact that it does not include deaths stemming from clashes between authorities and suspected gang members, nor murders where bodies have been discovered in mass graves.

Public support

The latest survey by Instituto Universitario de Opinión Pública (Iudop), affiliated with Jesuit-run Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), released in January, found that 62.7% of respondents considered security to be “the most positive aspect” of 2025, while 81.7% believed that crime had fallen. The same survey gave the Bukele administration an overall score of 8.39 out of 10, the second highest since 2020, the first full year after Bukele took office.

Rights concerns

Bukele and his flagship 40,000-capacity maximum security mega prison Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) are inspiring ideologically aligned leaders across the region such as Chile’s José Antonio Kast, who takes office on 11 March; Argentina’s President Javier Milei; and Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves. The victor of Costa Rica’s 1 February general election, continuity candidate Laura Fernández, has also professed her affinity with the authoritarian leader.

However, Bukele’s hardline policies, which have been accompanied by a major crackdown on dissent, with rights groups shuttered and leading activists jailed [SSR-25-09], remain a major cause for concern for local and international rights groups. A report released at the end of January by local civil society group Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (SJH) tallied 90,844 people detained between the start of the state of exception and the end of December 2025, and estimates that of these, some 30% are arbitrary and illegal. Meanwhile on 13 February it reported that as of 8 February it had documented the deaths of at least 487 prisoners since the start of the state of exception.