Will the State of Exception Be the New Normal?

The government not only extended the politically popular state of exception for another month on Sunday; it also seized the moment to temporarily exempt security spending from legal oversight. Despite widespread flak from human rights groups as evidence accumulates of police abuses and arbitrary detentions, Bukele’s party passed legislation to allow for government land expropriation to build more prisons. The country has the second-highest incarceration rate in the Americas.