Seems like a reasonable decision to me. I don't see how else the government could control the cartels. Plus it's got to be decent for their economy.
The use of “else” implies that this surrender constitutes the “government” controlling the cartels rather than vice versa. In fact, the cartels are the government, they’ve just outsourced the boring and less-profitable aspects of governing to the entity that calls itself the “government”, as long as it stays in line.
(Which, to be fair, hardly makes El Salvador unique.)
Maybe the Sicilians should run for office in Italy?