During a press briefing in El Salvador on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was asked about President Bukele's deals with MS-13 and other gangs in El Salvador.
00:00Federal agents found evidence that President Bukele negotiated with the MS-13 gang and that a gang leader was released from a U.S. prison. And would you trust an ally that has negotiated with gangs?
00:22Well, I will say the job President Bukele is doing right now, taking on the gangs, going after the gang leaders, imprisoning the gang leaders, imprisoning mass murderers, the results speak for themselves.
00:36In 2015, El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the entire world. 100 people killed per 100,000. Tragically, this was the murder capital of the world.
00:52Last year, that dropped from 100 people per 100,000 to 1.9 people per 100,000. That is a 98% decrease in the murder rate. Those results are indisputable.
01:10And I will tell you, as I have been here today and I have been speaking with Salvadorans, I've been speaking with U.S. military, I've been speaking with U.S. embassy personnel, I've been speaking with leaders from the government, I've asked consistently the question, how do you believe that the current administration is doing?
01:30I will admit, I will admit today, I've literally not had a conversation with anyone who has said anything other than that it's been extraordinary, that they feel safer, that their family is safer, that their kids are safer, that they're able to walk home at night without being afraid of being kidnapped or assaulted or murdered.
01:53That's the most important job of any leader, to keep his or her constituents safe. And I would say the results here speak for themselves.
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