“We are alive only through the grace of God. At one point, I got messages saying someone had offered 1 million lempiras [$38,000] to have me killed.”

Twenty-two men from Espíritu Santo Island who were arrested between under President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency decree in El Salvador.

Human rights in Nicaragua have deteriorated since a political crisis in 2018 pitted the increasingly authoritarian Ortega government against democracy and political reform advocates.

When gang members were asked about what they must do to exit the gang, a little over half said they must join a church or follow God.