Coming face to face with inmates in El Salvador’s mega-jail

Salvadorans are not strangers to brutal crimes like those the inmates are serving time for.

In the days leading up to the election, people in street markets, on beaches, in city hotels and in poor neighbourhoods told me about the influence gangs had wielded before the government cracked down on them.

“Every month a boy used to come to charge us,” María de la Luz Paniagua, who owns a grocery store in Santa Ana, said of the frequent extortion demands.

“If you didn’t pay, they threatened you with a knife.”

Others recalled not being able to move freely because whole neighbourhoods were under gang control.

Many spoke out in support of the state of emergency imposed by President Bukele.

“Since it is in place, there are no gang members and we really feel relieved,” María says.

“There are always little things that don’t work,” she concedes, saying that some people have been unjustly detained.

But for her, it is a price worth paying.

“Before, we lived in fear. Not anymore.”