Already on the path of national renewal, the country of El Salvador took the logical next step this week to ensure that years of hard-fought victories for their people will not be undone. It is remarkable how, in just a short span of time, El Salvador transformed from “the murder capital of the world” to the safest country in Central America. Due to the remarkable leadership and confident public policy of President Nayib Bukele, the homicide rate collapsed from 107 per 100,000 in 2015 to just 2 per 100,000 last year – a drop of more than 98 percent. This week, fueled by the new life that Bukele breathed into their country, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly voted to remove term limits and extend presidential terms to ensure its democratic revolution would be unimpeded.
President Bukele’s leadership demonstrates that high crime, gang violence, and crime-ridden cities are policy decisions, not fate. Too often, American Democrats claim that there are no policy options in the toolbox to clean up our cities. The El Salvador model demonstrates that the simplest way to reduce crime is to put criminals in jail. Shocking. But when they unveiled their no-tolerance policy for high crimes, El Salvador became a paradise. The country ultimately jailed over 110,000 people, many of them belonging to the same MS-13 gang that New York now struggles with. Now, crime is gone, murder is unheard of, and even the streets are clean. Thrilled with the actions of their president, the Salvadorans ensured this week that he could be democratically reelected for many years to come.
The New York Young Republican Club commends the actions of President Nayib Bukele and El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly. Violent crime is a policy choice, and if New York, Chicago, and other American cities ever decide to end it, the El Salvador model provides a viable method for doing so. Instead of ending cash bail and offering plea deals, violent criminals should be locked behind bars forever. The only barrier between New York and paradise is the courage of our elected leaders. To finalize these changes, El Salvador’s decision to remove term limits preserves the democratic process while protecting it from short-term threats. President Bukele transformed his country with just seven years of leadership – imagine the paradise he could create with 30.