SAN SALVADOR — A legal study has concluded that the mass arrests carried out under El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's state of emergency may constitute crimes against humanity. The state of emergency, which suspended all constitutional rights, was granted by El Salvador's National Assembly at Bukele's request following a March 2022 killing spree by the MS-13 gang.

On March 25, 2022, hundreds of cellphones in El Salvador displayed the text message "Adelante." The following day, MS-13 gang members killed 62 people across the country. By March 27, 2022, the death toll from the rampage had reached 87. One victim's body was dumped on the road leading to the Surf City tourist development.

Under the state of emergency, suspected gang members, including children, have been detained indefinitely in prison. Soldiers and law enforcement at checkpoints stopped buses and required male passengers to lift their shirts to check for gang tattoos. In just over two weeks, authorities detained more than 10,000 alleged gang affiliates.

Bukele has acknowledged that thousands of innocent civilians were detained under the measure. As of May 2026, the state of emergency had been in effect for four years. By 2026, approximately 1.9 percent of El Salvador's population was held in confinement, the highest incarceration rate in the world.

During the same period, El Salvador's murder rate fell from the highest in the Western Hemisphere to among the lowest within a few years. A January 2026 opinion poll indicated that Bukele's approval rating stood at 92 percent. Bukele has described himself as the "world's coolest dictator."

"Now he can be re-elected as many times as he wants, and people are being told that if another government comes in, all the gangs will be released and the country will go back to the way it was, and that's why Bukele must remain," said Samuel Ramirez, a representative of the Movement of Victims of the Regime.