The popularity of Nayib Bukele's iron-fisted crime policies in El Salvador has caused politicians across Latin America to emulate him. But the results of recent elections in Ecuador and Guatemala indicate voters want more than tough talk.
In March, the latest chapter was written in a political and legal controversy between Italy and France that dates back to the 1980s. But while a verdict from France’s highest criminal court caps a four-decade-long saga that began during Italy’s “years of lead,” it fails to resolve the tensions at the heart of those events.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on prison conditions and criminal justice policy around the world. Dozens of inmates were killed in a wave of violence that swept across Honduran prisons in recent weeks, as rival gangs staged a series of bloody riots and retaliatory attacks against each other. The country’s penal system has a long history of gang-driven violence, but the recent killings represent a notable uptick, says Eric L. Olson, director of policy at the Seattle International Foundation and a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In an email interview [...]