El Salvador president on confronting cartels

Al Jazeera interviews Mauricio Funes, El Salvador’s president, about the dangerous and growing drug trafficking situation in his country and the region.

Funes says that gangs have evolved from loose-knit groups of people without many options to more advanced “task forces in the service of organised crime”, which are being used by international drug cartels.

He also discusses the “regional strategy” of confronting cartels, which often have a higher operating budget than several Central American countries combined.

More than $100bn is spent annually on drug trafficking in Central America, compared to El Salvador’s annual budget of $4bn.