Salazar and El Salvador Caucus Call On State Department to Improve Travel Guidance for El Salvador

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) joined her colleagues in the Congressional El Salvador Caucus in a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting his department update El Salvador’s Travel Advisory to “Level 1: Exercise normal precautions” to reflect the major improvements in safety the country has made.

Once the most dangerous country in the entire world, El Salvador is now the safest country in the Western Hemisphere. The tough-on-crime approach of President Nayib Bukele and his administration have drastically reduced the power and influence of violent gang members across his country. The United States must update its policies towards El Salvador to reflect this public safety miracle.

“Through safety and lasting peace, prosperity for El Salvador is on the horizon. Of course, this prosperity depends in large part on the blessing of the international community, and this blessing is most powerful when coming from El Salvador’s most powerful and benevolent neighbor: the United States of America,” wrote the members of the Caucus.

Currently, El Salvador’s travel advisory is at “Level 3,” which advises travelers to “reconsider travel” because there are “serious risks to safety and security” in the country. However, due to President Nayib Bukele’s policy initiatives, which have led to the incarceration of more than 75,000 violent gang members, El Salvador has been the safest country in the Western Hemisphere since 2023. The country’s homicide rate has been steadily declining from a high of 104 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to 2.4 in 2024 and is less than that of nearly every major city in the United States. Since many tourists review the State Department’s advisories before traveling, this new data must be reflected in the State Department’s publications.

As Chairwoman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the representative of thousands of Salvadoran Americans in South Florida, Congresswoman Salazar has repeatedly sounded the alarm on the threat of gang violence in El Salvador and lauded the public safety miracle unleashed by President Bukele. She has previously called on the Biden Administration to increase engagement with El Salvador and asked about what we can emulate here in the United States.

The letter was led by Caucus Chairs Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX). The full text of the letter to Secretary Blinken can be found here.

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