Ambassador Ron Johnson: El Salvador and the prison model of accountability

The country's tough stance on criminals may be adopted in the U.S. under Matt Gaetz

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A couple weeks ago, Vator and the Economic Club of Miami hosted a gathering of nearly 300 attendees at Culture, Religion & Technology, take II on October 29, 2024.

The first panel was on national security and technology. It was moderated Hamlet Yousef, partner at IronGate Capital Advisors, who was joined by Ben Carson Jr., partner at Fvlcrum Funds and Ron Johnson, who served as United States Ambassador to El Salvador from 2019 to 2021. He was appointed by then President Donald Trump. 

Johnson pointed out that at one point in 2017, El Salvador was the "murder capital of the world." Now it has changed dramatically under President Nayib Bukele. "They're the safest nation in the western hemisphere," he said. "One thing that changed was the will of the president and nation to hold criminals accountable. And now people want to implement what President Bukele did."

That may soon happen under the Trump administration if Matt Gaetz gets confirmed as the new US attorney general. This summer, Gaetz, who was a congressman at that time, said he saw "a lot more discipline" in the prisons there than in the U.S. prison system. As AG, he would oversee the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In a video, Gaetz says the model in El Salvador could be used in other places. 

Listen to Johnson speak about the prison system in El Salvador (towards the end of the panel). He also talked about advising Bukele on not being "dependent on China" for security or economic help.

  

Thanks to sponsors: Freedom Foundation, IronGate Capital Advisors, We Over Me, Folio Capital and Mercantile Banco.