SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador | After drubbing El Salvador’s gangs during a more than three-year state of emergency, President Nayib Bukele turned his attention this month to another persistent, but softer, problem: his country’s many, many stray cats and dogs.

“Thousands of dogs and cats live on our streets. We want to change that, but without cruelty. We have the financial resources, but we seek expert partners to make it a model for Latin America,” Bukele wrote on X on Oct. 8. “Who wants to come and help?”

San Salvador struggles with a problem widely seen in cities across Latin America, as free-roaming cats and dogs sleep on the streets with no one to care for them. Dogs can be spotted lying on the warm asphalt on road shoulders, skillfully crossing six lanes of traffic like it’s a walk

See Full Page