The Latest Breaking News from El Salvador

El Salvador has had a problem with gang-related violence for decades, but the South American country's new President Nayib Bukele has promised a crackdown on crime, and has already rounded up 63,000 gangsters and thrown most in jail

El Salvador's government moved thousands of suspected gang members to a newly opened "mega prison" on Friday, the latest step in a controversial crackdown on crime that has caused the Central American nation's prison population to soar.

“I’m not going to apologize for defending myself,” says the California Democrat, who got threats after tangling with El Salvador’s president.

His comments are important, because democracy in Latin America is in retreat. The president of El Salvador has announced he will defy constitutional term limits and run again for president next year.

When El Salvador began making mass arrests of people with suspected gang affiliations last year, President Nayib Bukele ordered the construction of what would be the largest prison in Latin America

Authorities in El Salvador have opened one of Latin America's largest prisons, more than doubling the country's incarceration capacity, as a government crackdown on criminal gangs is causing the prison population to soar.

Nearly two years after declaring war on his nation’s violent gangs, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has seen his nation’s murder rate drop, his popularity soar and thousands of gang members put behind bars. Even pizza delivery has resumed in some once forbidden neighborhoods.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Salvadoran authorities on Friday of "mass due process violations" in the detention of tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of children, in over-crowded prisons, citing leaked government data.

It comes after a story of obscurity in El Salvador and Guatemala before ending up in Honduras with CD Vida.