El Salvador's War on MS-13: Nayib Bukele Goes...

He might just be the biggest US drug smuggler you’ve never heard of. 1.3 billion in product moved. 16 different aliases. Bank accounts in 10 countries. A phantom, and a logistical genius. Stewart Newton quietly built what feds called the biggest ever drug smuggling operation in N ...  Show more

Bolivia's Cerro Rico has been spewing out tons of silver for centuries. It was the economic bellows of the Spanish Revolution, whose lust for the precious metal came at the price of some eight million slaves. Some of the empire's earliest gangs formed around the Cerro. They were ...  Show more

Not long ago, the tiny nation of El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world. Now, it has the highest incarceration rate. President Nayib Bukele – who has described himself as “the world’s coolest dictator” – has detained 70,000 gang suspects without trial. His supporter ...  Show more

Once the murder capital of the world, El Salvador finds itself grappling with both gang violence and geopolitical shifts. Between 2013 and 2016, murder rates soared due to gang wars and systemic extortion. President Nayib Bukele, emerging from this tumult, removes the safety catc ...  Show more

Rival gangs in El Salvador used to rule the streets. It was one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with a really high murder rate. But now its President claims it is one of the safest in the Western hemisphere. How did he do it? By creating a state of exception and arr ...  Show more

El Salvador has experienced a remarkable transformation. What had once been one of the most violent countries in the world has become incredibly safe.

Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, discusses the cost of t ...