When El Salvador was the murder capital of the world and thousands of Salvadorans were macheted or gunned down in the streets every year, no one cared. It was written off as a minor shit hole country with intractable violence. Then El Salvador took drastic action to fix the problem and did so successfully. The solution was undoubtedly imperfect, but it was equally undoubtedly successful. El Salvador is a far more peaceful and prosperous country today than it was… arguably ever. And in return, the government of El Salvador has been castigated by many foreign observers. Their criticisms are that El Salvador’s government hasn’t followed the traditional policy recommendations of the West closely enough. Democracy has been undermined and civil rights have been violated.