Illegal drug trade in El Salvador has included, according to some sources, trans-shipping of cocaine by the Nicaraguan Contras.
Former DEA agent Celerino Castillo alleged that during the 1980s Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Nicaraguan Contras for drug smuggling flights with the knowledge and complicity of the CIA.
This was prompted by the journalist Gary Webb's report in the San Jose Mercury News alleging that the CIA was behind the 1980s crack epidemic.
Following a spike in murders, the El Salvador president Nayib Bukele ordered law enforcement to arrest all suspects.
Measures taken by the El Salvadorian government, such as the arrests of over 58,000 people without trial, have drawn criticism from human rights groups.