El Salvador’s Dilemma: the Allure of Security Over Liberty

In this episode, Alex focuses on the allure that many countries are facing — tradeoffs between security and liberty. The issue has been even more pronounced in a lot of Latin America where failed goverments and rising gang violence have driven the populace to demand security and economic stability. Alex looks at President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and how he has locked up thousands of potential gang members without due process. The country is safer and the economy is doing better, but Alex worries that these tradeoffs may be appealing in the short term but could help entrench a wannabe-autocrat like Bukele in the longer term.