PLAYA TUNCO, El Salvador—Rhythmic Latin music played softly in the background as Patricia Sandoval wept at a restaurant overlooking the gray sea of her native El Salvador.
Her voice grew husky as she gazed out at the crashing waves, her tone grim as she recounted the horrors of her life as an 11-year-old growing up in a country torn by civil war.
Until just weeks ago, it had been 42 years since she had set foot in her homeland, after having fled to the United States with her mother and siblings to build a safe, new life. She was driven to tears recalling the bittersweet moment last month when she stepped off the plane onto the terra firma of her childhood.
“I left—now I come back—and I don’t know the country. I don’t know my land,” she said, her voice breaking.
Sandoval, who lives in California, came back to visit because, after decades of civil war and brutal gang violence, the country is at peace under President Nayib Bukele. Other people she knows feel it’s safe to return now, too.
“We’re feeling like we can go back home, just explore and get to know our own land that was taken away by the war, by the gangs, the violence,” she said.
Many Salvadorans told similar stories, saying they now feel safe from gangs that killed and robbed at will before Bukele was elected.
El Salvador is now playing an important role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the country on March 26. In a video that featured El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, as a backdrop, Noem warned gang members against operating in the United States.
The Epoch Times traveled more than 175 miles through the country, speaking to a dozen people about the transformation their nation has experienced under Bukele and how they felt about the U.S. deportations to their country.
The majority of them expressed approval, saying that vicious gang members—whether in El Salvador or the United States—needed to pay for their crimes.
Bukele is now touting the once infamously dangerous country in Latin America as the safest because of the mass arrests of some of the most violent gangs on the planet—such as MS-13 and Barrio 18—that terrorized the country for a decade.
El Salvador’s reputation as iron-fisted when it comes to gangs grew with the construction of CECOT in Tecoluca.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador on March 29, 2025. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
It caught Trump’s attention. While campaigning, he vowed to shut down the U.S. southern border, where most of the 11 million illegal immigrants crossed into the country under President Joe Biden. The Trump administration has prioritized finding and deporting criminal gang members such as Tren de Aragua of Venezuela, and this is where El Salvador comes into play.
Salvadoran political analyst Herbert Esmahan said El Salvador’s transformation into what has been called one of the safest countries in the Western Hemisphere is the key to curtailing illegal immigration to the United States.
Cleaning up El Salvador’s gang problem will mean that more businesses will open, more tourists will show up, and more jobs will be created, he said.
Noem Visits Terrorism Center
A canopy of trees shades the two-lane highway leading from the Salvadoran capital, San Salvador, to the CECOT prison. On March 26, the city was abuzz with news that Noem would visit CECOT. The news flashed across a digital billboard within the city.On the day of her arrival, troops dressed in fatigues, carrying M16 rifles, lined the route. Noem had a photo op standing in front of bare-chested tattooed gang members that day during her visit.
Her message to gang members was that they would end up in a mega-prison if they attempted to come to America.
The government’s tight control surrounding Noem’s prison visit was apparent to the press, with one local media outlet telling The Epoch Times that it was not invited to the meeting between Bukele and Noem.
Wendy Ramos, a spokesperson for El Salvador’s presidency, declined The Epoch Times’ request to speak to the Bukele administration about the deportations.
“No government official has been authorized to give any information,” she said.
The people of El Salvador were happy to give their views. Most approved of the United States deporting gang members to their country.
Every person interviewed by The Epoch Times told stories of violence and crime they experienced before Bukele was elected, most at the hands of gangs.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, accompanied by Minister of Justice and Public Security Héctor Gustavo Villatoro (R), tours the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. The United States deported 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren De Aragua, and 21 MS-13 gang members to CECOT. Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images
Deporting Gang Members
Pigeons took flight with fluttering wings as laughing children chased them at Plaza Gerardo Barrios, a square in the center of San Salvador’s historical center named after a former president and military hero.The plaza, anchored by the 175-year-old Metropolitan Cathedral, is reminiscent of a bygone era and a stunning testament to the country’s strong Christian identity.
On a Saturday in March, Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “September“ played over the loudspeaker, piped in from a nearby hotel as tourists and locals mingled.
Speaking through an interpreter, Enrique Orellana, a farmworker from Teotepeque wearing a USA shirt, said he was at the capital to buy pesticides to combat the screwworm outbreak that is hurting livestock.
The 61-year-old told The Epoch Times that Noem’s visit was a moment of national pride, showing the world that El Salvador is no longer run by gangs.
“Where it used to be No. 1 in crime, now it’s No. 1 in security,“ he said. “Trump and Bukele are working hand in hand.”
But not everyone agreed.
At the marketplace not far from the plaza, 76-year-old Abel told The Epoch Times via an interpreter that the United States should handle its own problems.
“This country has no legal right to accept them,“ he said of Trump’s deportations. “Trump should put them in jail over there.”
Likewise, his friend Vanessa, 30, said she doesn’t think it’s right for America to send Tren de Aragua gang members from Venezuela to her country. The United States should have all the resources it needs to house prisoners, she said.
Both said that some people doubt that everyone at CECOT is a gang member. Both declined to give a last name during the interview.
(Left) Enrique Orellana, 61, a farmer, takes a break at the Plaza Gerardo Barrios in San Salvador, El Salvador, March 28, 2025. (Right) Friends Vanessa, 30, and Abel, 76, who declined to share their last names, rest near the city market in San Salvador, El Salvador on March 28, 2025. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
Sentenced to CECOT
Last month, the Trump administration deported 238 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members and 21 MS-13 gang members to CECOT.The deportation was documented by a video showing the prisoners being led off planes by the military, loaded onto buses and military-style vehicles, and whisked away to the prison.
Bukele agreed to house the foreign nationals for a year in CECOT for $6 million.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered the two planes carrying the alleged illegal immigrant gang members to El Salvador and Honduras to return to the United States.
Boasberg verbally ordered that the planes be turned around, but he did not include the directive in his written order.
The case is ongoing as the Trump administration and the judge continue to spar over deportations of alleged gang members who are in the United States illegally after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the U.S. government to fast-track the removal of illegal immigrants deemed to be participating in an invasion of the country.
On March 31, the Trump administration deported more “violent criminals“ from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador.
In a social media post, Bukele said, “Last night, in a joint military operation with our allies from the United States, we transferred 17 extremely dangerous criminals linked to Tren de Aragua and MS-13.”
Trump thanked Bukele in a letter, which the Salvadoran president posted on social media platform X. The letter included an invitation to visit the White House on April 14 “for an official working visit to discuss this and other ways we can support each other.”
Prisoners sit at maximum security penitentiary CECOT in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on April 4, 2025. Alex Peña/Getty Images
Crime, Punishment
In a 2024 address to the United Nations, Bukele said his nation had to break the cycle of violence that started with a civil war and transitioned into gang violence.According to the populist president, his country has focused on replacing lawlessness with security for Salvadorans over the past five years.
“Some people say that we are the country that has imprisoned thousands, but actually, we’ve freed millions,“ Bukele said. “Thousands of Salvadorans fled war and poverty. We’ve now made this a country to return to. Over the past five years, El Salvador has been born again.”
Esmahan said that in El Salvador, the government investigated suspected gang members before putting them in CECOT. Those with gang tattoos and proven affiliations went through a legal process.
“If these people weren’t confirmed criminals, they would not be in our prisons, period,“ Esmahan said of those in CECOT.
While Bukele used a “state of exception“ to round up gang members, Esmahan said those who complain that Bukele is governing with an iron fist are misinformed.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele speaks during the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 24, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“This is not a dictatorship,“ he said. “The country was able to take down these criminal structures because they were declared terrorists.”
Globalists want to make the world believe that El Salvador is violating the human rights of criminals inside the prisons, he said.
“That is not true. If anything, human rights have been restored in El Salvador,“ Esmahan said.
The gang members of El Salvador will likely spend life behind bars because of combined sentences for being gang members and terrorists, trafficking drugs, and committing rapes and murders.
The prisoners deported from the United States are being held here as a service to the United States for a fee and aren’t going through the legal process that inmates in the country would have gone through.
Esmahan said he felt confident that El Salvador would not have accepted them without some confirmation that they were criminals.
Herbert Esmahan in El Salvador on March 27, 2025. Esmahan said that in El Salvador, the government investigated suspected gang members before detaining them in CECOT. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
Revolution, War
Diego, a mechanic by trade, said he makes better money chauffeuring tourists and visitors around San Salvador.The 23-year-old said during an interview with The Epoch Times that he couldn’t visit his girlfriend in a neighboring town before Bukele began his “state of exception,“ which suspends some civil rights. Gang members would put up roadblocks in their territory and check the identity of people coming in, and often shoot outsiders.
Diego said he would have to meet his girlfriend in neutral territory, such as restaurants and shopping centers.
After Bukele was elected, troops went into the most dangerous neighborhoods and rounded up suspected gang members based on specific tattoos.
“For example, if someone had tattoos, they would interrogate them,“ he told The Epoch Times through an interpreter.
The tactic worked, leaving very few gang members in the neighborhoods. When someone sees someone making gang signs, they record them on their phone and alert officials, Diego said. Even so, he asked for his last name not to be used out of fear of gangs.
“Actually, yesterday, some kid made a gang sign. There are gang signs for every mara [short for marabunta or gang]. He made a gang sign to an official, and they quickly came and got him.“ Diego said.
Esmahan said that previous crime-ridden areas are now tourist attractions, such as the National Palace on the Plaza Gerardo Barrios.
Vendors in these areas had to pay commissions to the gangs in order to operate their businesses, he said.
“If they didn’t, they'd go into the market, shoot them right in front of everyone, in broad daylight, and get away with it. Simple as that,“ he said.
Esmahan said he was once robbed at gunpoint by gangs, which he described as running a “shadow government.”
At a roadside market outside the city, 49-year-old Olivia Esperanza Garcia struggles with poverty as she sells sugarcane for 50 cents, 11 hours a day, seven days a week. She said she likes Bukele because he put gang members behind bars. Likewise, she approves of the United States sending gang members to her country’s mega-prison.
“We all voted for him,“ she said of Bukele, who was reelected with more than 80 percent of the vote.
“Thanks be to God because they’ve got to pay what they owe,“ she said of the criminals being deported there by the United States.
Garcia said that while things are better, she doubts Salvadorans living in the United States will return.
“The poverty we live in, not too many people can live with that. They’ve gotten used to a different lifestyle,“ she said.
Like others, she has known decades of hardship and violence. Before Bukele was elected, she was robbed by gangs as she worked on the roadside with her children and grandchildren.
The civil war still haunts her. She recalls being 11 years old when the conflict erupted.
“A lot of people lost their families,“ she said.
Olivia Esperanza Garcia, 49, waits for customers at her sugar cane stand off the Pan American Highway in El Salvador on March 29, 2025. She operates her stand with her children and grandchildren. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
The violence that many Salvadorans have endured, starting with the civil war, helps explain the rise of Bukele.
From 1979 to 1992, war raged between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union.
The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City in 1992.
A soft breeze caught Sandoval’s hair as she recalled the violence of that era. Civilians were collateral damage amid the violence. She remembers being terrified that government troops or the FMLN would enter the bus she was riding on. Once on board, they would point to girls, women, and men, ordering them off the bus.
“‘You, you, you, get out of the bus,’ and they will take them, rape them ... and kill them,“ Sandoval recalled. “As a kid, I tried to look as ugly as I could. I wanted to look as masculine as much as I could because I didn’t want to be attractive.“
Patricia Sandoval, 53, wipes away tears as she recalls when she left El Salvador as a child during the civil war in the 1980’s, in a restaurant at Playa El Tunco, El Salvador, on March 28, 2025. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
Her mother was in constant danger because she was a social worker who had to drive into the countryside as the conflict raged.
She remembers when the FMLN stopped the bus she was riding with her mother and siblings while they were en route to visit her father’s grave. Armed FMLN guerrilla fighters who were at war with the Salvadoran government boarded the bus. Her heart raced as her mother pleaded with them.
“Please don’t hurt my children,“ she said her mother screamed.
“And I remember the terrorist wearing a handkerchief talking to my mom saying, ‘Don’t worry, lady, we’re not gonna hurt the children.’”
But even as he spoke, FMLN insurgents were dumping out suitcases as passengers scrambled to get off the bus, she said.
“We ran away from the bus. As we were running, they were shooting,” she said, adding that they ran for their lives, ducking behind a big metal telephone utility box.
“I remember the bullets flying by. Yeah, they were just shooting at people running.”
Now, she is at a beach known for surfing, surrounded by tourists spending dollars on food, drink, and shopping.
“So to me, it’s a blessing being here today, coming back,“ she said.
Salvadoran guerrillas unload their guns in the air before surrendering them for destruction under the supervision of United Nations observers, in El Salvador on Dec. 14, 1992. The Salvadoran guerrillas are concluding their demobilization in compliance with the Jan 15, 1993, peace accord. Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images
Nowhere to Hide
America’s influence is everywhere in El Salvador, which is a land of contradictions, a mix of old and new, poor and rich.Fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s are ubiquitous in this small country of 6.3 million, which even has a Porsche dealership in one upscale area.
In the city’s underbelly, burglar bars cover the windows and doors of shops and homes. Fences are topped with razor wire.
In the background of the modern city are volcanoes, lush forests, and tiny hillside villages.
East of San Salvador, the municipality of Verapaz sits near the base of the San Vicente volcano, which invokes images from the sci-fi TV series “Land of the Lost,” about a family trapped in a prehistoric time warp.
Still, crime knows no boundaries.
Irvin Aguilar, 23, owns a barbershop in town to support his wife and 4-year-old daughter. Before the gangs were removed, he had to pay the MS-13 overlords $15 to $20 a day to operate his business, which charges $3.50 a haircut.
Irvin Aguilar (R) gives Dennis Potillo a haircut in Verapaz, El Salvador, on March 29, 2025. Aguilar said it is safer now after the government began incarcerating gang members. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
“It varied,“ he told The Epoch Times via an interpreter. “If they liked you, you paid less, but if they didn’t like you, you paid more.“
Aguilar approves of some of Trump’s actions, but he worries that they are affecting his mother, who lives with his American-born brothers in New York.
While getting rid of the criminal gang members is good, some Salvadorans living in America illegally are worried, he said.
“It has gotten hard to work in the United States because of the fear of being deported,“ he said.
