- 1 year ago
Gangs_once_ruled_El_Salvador._See_the_controversial_prison_system_locals_say_changed_their_lives
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00:00Tonight, Trump hitting Harris on the border, just wrapping an event in Arizona,
00:04repeating without evidence that migrants are pouring across the border from prisons.
00:12This is in Honduras alone and Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico. This is all over the world,
00:20and they're coming from prisons and they're coming from jails.
00:23We're not going to let this happen to our country.
00:26Trump specifically has pointed on this issue to El Salvador,
00:30once called the murder capital of the world and controlled by gangs for decades.
00:34Crime is now plummeting in El Salvador, reported crime as the U.S. sees hundreds
00:38of migrants at the border each day, which has led Trump to make this claim.
00:45El Salvador murders are down by 70 percent. Why are they down? They're down because they're
00:51sending their murderers to the United States of America.
00:57So our David Culver went to El Salvador.
01:00He took Trump's claim directly to the country's security minister.
01:06Is that true?
01:07No, no. The problem with that is you don't have fact. You don't have evidence of that.
01:16Instead of that, we have evidence where we put our terrorists.
01:23So David said, well, show me. Let me see the evidence. And he got a very rare look
01:28inside El Salvador's prisons. For this piece, you'll see first out front.
01:36We're layering up to walk through a notoriously gang-infested part of El Salvador's capital.
01:42The country's defense minister is our tour guide.
01:46And this area especially was very, very, very, very dangerous.
01:50He said, go back three or four years. And the folks who lived in this area
01:55didn't even want to look police and military in the eye.
01:58If the bad guys know that some civilian people say hi, say hi to us, they kill them.
02:09For decades, gang violence suffocated nearly all aspects of life in El Salvador.
02:14But now, walking these once deadly streets with the defense minister
02:18feels more like a victory parade.
02:21Handshakes, hugs, photos, even carrying babies.
02:30For some, even asking about the past brings out tears.
02:34Only God knows what it was like here before, she says.
02:43Less than a decade ago, El Salvador was labeled the deadliest country in the world.
02:48Murders have since plummeted, according to government data,
02:51from more than 6,600 in 2015 to 154 last year. Life has seemingly returned to these streets.
03:00Now I feel a little bit silly even having to wear this. The biggest threat is a slowdown
03:06in going to where you need to go because of taking photos and saying hi to people.
03:10But how did it all change so quickly?
03:16Most crediting Nayib Bukele, the country's president. In 2019, he came into office.
03:23His actions, controversial, consolidating power,
03:28tightening his grip of control, and essentially eliminating any political opposition.
03:38Under a state of emergency, more than 81,000 people arrested,
03:42Bukele even boasting that El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
03:48The government says the most hardened gang members end up here at the Terrorism
03:52Confinement Center. Government images from inside have been widely shared on social media.
03:59But most of those arrested are actually kept in facilities
04:02like these, a side of El Salvador's prison system few have seen.
04:08You can actually see just over where we are, there's row after row after row.
04:14This facility alone holds roughly 30,000 inmates.
04:20Prisoners are put to work, tasked with rehabilitating themselves and their country.
04:25You can even see there's a police vehicle that they're working on.
04:30We tour another facility where inmates are making government uniforms and building desks
04:35for local schools. Some inmates are sent into communities to help heal the nation.
04:42By erasing parts of a painful past, President Bukele ordered the inmates to shatter gang
04:48tombstones. So this is one of them here, and you can see this is all broken off.
04:53They're still buried here, and they still have a plot.
04:57But any mention of their past gang affiliations and nicknames destroyed.
05:03Driving through the capital, we see kids playing, parks packed with vendors and families,
05:09and lots of traffic. It all might seem normal. But locals stress to us, this is all new to them.
05:17It's calm.
05:23Before, nobody would visit here, not even your own family.
05:26Though feeling safer, this woman tells me the drastic changes have come at a devastating cost.
05:32She's saying her son, who helps her normally financially, is in jail.
05:38So for her, yeah, it might be safer here, but economically, it's no better.
05:44She says her son is being held at one of the work prisons we visited,
05:47but that he's innocent and has not been given the opportunity to defend himself.
05:51It's a claim many have made against the government.
05:56But the Bukele administration is adamant that they've taken lawful and necessary steps
06:01to liberate this country.
06:05We meet this woman who says she's been able to move in thanks to the changes.
06:11So for her to be here in this space now to have a little business,
06:14she says it's been a blessing.
06:15Keeping the gangs out has meant military patrols at all hours.
06:20Though now, even the sight of armored trucks with flashing lights,
06:24surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, no longer intimidating for residents, so much as fascinating.
06:30They're just curious and wanting to take a picture and video
06:34of the inside of some of this military equipment.
06:38Mr. President says this is a miracle, he says.
06:42This is a miracle.
06:44And perhaps like a miracle, El Salvador's transformation has its skeptics and doubters,
06:49but most everyone we find here.
06:53For now, at least, devout believers, hopeful this change will last.
07:01It's absolutely incredible.
07:06And to be able to see what's going on in those prisons, David.
07:08And as part of your reporting, you also met with migrants,
07:13but not the kind that Americans think of.
07:16You're talking about people who left the United States and crossed the border
07:20to go south to El Salvador.
07:22Who are they?
07:23I feel like most of the time you and I, Erin, are talking about immigration.
07:26I'm usually at the border talking about the people who are trying to get into the U.S.
07:30You're right.
07:30This is the other direction we're talking about.
07:32Two different things that we're looking at.
07:34OK, you're talking about the folks who are deciding not to leave
07:38and are staying in El Salvador.
07:40And it's interesting because we pulled the numbers from Customs and Border Protection.
07:44And if you go back to the start of that controversial state of emergency in 2022,
07:48and you go one year out, the number of people
07:51crossing the southern border from El Salvador dropped 36 percent.
07:56It's on track to drop even further this year.
07:58Is it causation?
07:59Is it correlation?
08:00Too early to see, but certainly coincidental with the start of that very,
08:04very aggressive crackdown under President Bukele.
08:08The other part of this is, as you say, people who left El Salvador years ago
08:12and who are now going back, some of them to start their lives anew within their home country.
08:18And others like this woman we met who are just visiting
08:21after having left as young children and getting to re-know their homeland.
08:29This can't be the same country.
08:31There's no way because I don't see that.
08:34I feel super safe.
08:35And now I'm like kind of sad that I've lost so many years
08:39and not have seen my family for like 30 something years.
08:43Tonight, a country Trump can't stop talking about.
08:48El Salvador murders are down by 70 percent.
08:52If you go to El Salvador.
08:54You take a look at El Salvador.
08:56I ran El Salvador.
08:58El Salvador.
08:59El Salvador.
09:01Trump claiming migrants from El Salvador have been flooding across the border to the United States.
09:05Now, as we showed you last night, our David Culver went to El Salvador,
09:10and for the second part of his special report tonight,
09:13he is going to show you the truth of how many people are actually leaving El Salvador right now.
09:18Here's his report that you're seeing first out front.
09:23On the U.S. southern border, we've seen the desperation and determination
09:27of folks trying to get into the U.S., often fleeing the unimaginable.
09:32Sometimes you go to sleep and you never know if you're going to wake up.
09:37Diego Morales dreamed of a better life,
09:40escaping the horrors of El Salvador's brutal civil war.
09:45I like United States.
09:46I've been here for almost 30 years.
09:49So I can say, you know, also this is my country.
09:54Hey, I'm David. Nice to meet you.
09:55He's made Houston, Texas, home, starting a business and a family here.
09:59But Diego now noticing fewer Salvadorans following his path.
10:03Now it's safe, you know, so people staying over there.
10:07Less than a decade ago, El Salvador was labeled the murder capital of the world.
10:11Gangs were essentially in charge.
10:14But in the past three to four years, this country has seen a radical transformation.
10:18Locals tell us that they finally feel safe enough to be outside.
10:22Which may explain the sharp drop in migrants from El Salvador attempting to enter the U.S.
10:28CBP data shows a 36 percent decrease in Salvadorans
10:32crossing the southern border from 2022 to last year,
10:36with numbers expected to fall even further this year.
10:39But the data only tells part of the story.
10:45We meet Blanca Flores and Victor Bolaños.
10:48They fled El Salvador in 2003, leaving their three college-age sons behind.
10:52From all the people you worked with.
10:54Planning to eventually bring them to Colorado.
10:57At least that was the plan.
10:59They were able to get their kids through schooling and everything through their work in the U.S.
11:05But after 15 years, the couple lost their asylum claim and was forced to
11:09accept a so-called voluntary departure back to El Salvador.
11:13It's a lot of work.
11:17Returning just ahead of the country's pivotal 2019 presidential elections.
11:22A 37-year-old Nayib Bukele won,
11:26and in 2022 declared a controversial state of emergency that is still in effect.
11:34Arresting more than 81,000 people and counting,
11:37his consolidated power tightened his grip of control and essentially eliminated any
11:42political opposition.
11:46And yet Blanca sees Bukele more like a concerned father.
11:50Two years ago, the Bukele administration introduced financial incentives for citizens
11:56looking to return to El Salvador.
11:58The government reports nearly 19,000 Salvadorans have moved back under this program.
12:04And you think the economy will get better because security is better?
12:11Human rights groups, though, question Bukele's tactics in cracking down on gangs,
12:15alleging widespread abuse and claiming that many innocent people have been swept up in the
12:20mass arrests. But the government stands by its actions, as does nearly everyone we meet here.
12:26You can imagine how afraid I was that one of my sons was going to be
12:31recruited for the gang member or killed.
12:33And you think President Bukele saved them from that?
12:36That's right.
12:36In some places, the millennial leader and his social media posts
12:40are seemingly revered and good for marketing, attracting locals and folks visiting.
12:46And I was like, this can't be the same country. There's no way.
12:50Is this your family too?
12:51This is my aunt.
12:52Jessica left as a child with her parents during the Civil War. This is her first time back.
12:57And now I'm, like, kind of sad that I have lost so many years
13:01and not have seen my family for, like, 30-something years.
13:05Investors also seeing the potential here. We meet up with one of them, a familiar face.
13:12Diego, how are you?
13:14What a place you have.
13:16Diego Morales in town with his family, checking in on his boutique hotel,
13:20which opened a year ago on the land his parents once worked, but could never afford to buy.
13:26Now he is the owner.
13:28They're here. They can stay here alone. Everything is safe.
13:31While some locals make it clear their land is not for sale,
13:36the surging prices along the coast are too good for others to pass up.
13:40This used to be gang lookout, basically. They would have scouts who would keep their eyes.
13:45Yeah, they call it a post, you know, having people here, over there, you know.
13:51But now it's potentially the site of luxury and relaxation.
13:55Yep, it's totally different now.
13:58During a period of time, the noise that we would hear would be,
14:01say, gunfire, but now it's construction noise.
14:05New roads, luxury homes and resorts, all coming soon.
14:10Diego is not the only one in his family who sees the possibilities here.
14:15And you could see building a future here.
14:17Exactly.
14:18His son, Jairo, born and raised in the U.S.,
14:22an American now looking south for his Salvadoran dream.
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