How Nayib Bukele became the most popular leader in the Americas and ensured an absolute protection system in El Salvador.
By @tupireport
The 42-year-old young president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who conceived the largest prison in the American continent with a capacity for 40,000 inmates, has garnered popularity and controversies during his four years leading one of the smallest countries in Latin America, to the extent of gaining worldwide recognition.
Since coming to power, his government has arrested 65,000 people under a state of exception in the country, adopted a digital currency, defended his "divine right" in Congress, removed members of the Supreme Court, and decided to reduce the number of municipalities in El Salvador by over 80%.
Despite the controversial political measures, his popularity within the country reaches nearly 90%, according to opinion polls. This is mainly due to his campaign to combat street gangs that had control over the country.
Official data shows that the violence rates in El Salvador have decreased from 38 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019 to 7.8 deaths in 2022. Quite an achievement for the small Central American territory, which was among the ten most violent countries in the world according to a report by the UN.
This reduction in crime is related to Bukele's decree in September 2022, which suspended constitutional rights of citizens after 87 deaths were recorded in two days.
Without the need for a judicial order, this measure resulted in thousands of arrests within a year and placed the country at the top of the list of the world's highest incarceration rates, proportional to the population, with 600 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the British organization World Prison Brief.
In a more recent episode in May of this year, Bukele stated on his social media that the country had gone without a murder record for 365 days since he was elected president. The numbers do not refer to a full year but rather the accumulated days without occurrences of murder.
International human rights organizations, however, denounce illegal detentions in the country and precarious incarceration conditions.
A report by the NGO Cristosal (partially funded by the Open Society) indicates the occurrence of torture, abuses, and killings since the beginning of the state of exception. The numbers suggest that more than 150 people have been killed while in government custody. The government claims that these "alleged individuals" have killed more than three times that number when adding up the deaths.
Fewer municipalities
In addition to the fight against crime, other actions mark Bukele's government. The most recent one is the proposal of the Special Law of Municipal Restructuring, ratified in June, which foresees a reduction of 83% of Salvadoran cities.
The document has 13 articles and is expected to come into effect in May 2024, months after the next general elections. With the new administrative organization, the country will have 44 mayors, 44 councilors, and 372 aldermen.
Among the justifications presented by the head of state are the streamlining of public administration, improvement in accountability, the fight against corruption, and cost-saving for the government.
However, the political opposition views the initiative with skepticism. According to lawmakers who reject the proposal, the president seeks the administrative modification of the state to accumulate more powers and facilitate the approval of his projects. On the government's side, the measure aims to clean up allies and corrupt individuals who were obstructing the progress of important agendas for the country while diverting funds to small towns and their gangs.
Authoritarian President?
Nayib Bukele began to be seen as antidemocratic after his controversial actions against the Supreme Court.
In 2020, less than a year into his government, he stormed the legislative assembly with the support of the military and asserted his "divine right" after the rejection of a million-dollar loan by the Parliament to invest in his security plan for the country.
This action sparked the first crisis of his government and was considered a "self-coup" by the political opposition and international democratic organizations. He also called on his popular supporters to surround the Congress in his defense.
Another situation that drew media attention to El Salvador occurred in 2021 when the president, with the legislature controlled by his allies, removed one-third of the country's 690 judges and dozens of prosecutors after the approval of the Judicial Career Law. This action was questioned by the UN and the United States, which advocated for respect for the separation of powers.
Indeed, there are segments of the population in El Salvador who support President Nayib Bukele's actions, arguing that the country's judiciary was corrupt and aligned with drug cartels.
Digital currency
In addition to the political conflict within El Salvador, a new decision by the government impacted the global economic market. In September 2021, amidst the political turmoil, Bukele decided to adopt the digital currency Bitcoin as the official currency in the country.
According to a Bloomberg report, the country purchased approximately $108 million US dollars (about R$510 million) worth of Bitcoin. However, the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender did not succeed, and currently, the value of the purchased Bitcoins stands at around $77 million US dollars (approximately R$360 million).
Also, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador passed a lawregulating the issuance of digital assets other than Bitcoin, paving the way for the launch of cryptocurrency-backed securities.
The proposed bond became known as Volcano Bonds, as the money would go towards – among other things – seeding a Bitcoin mining industry powered solely by renewable energy, sourced in part from the country's active volcanoes.
In addition, Nayib Bukele announced the enactment of a law that eliminates taxes on innovative technologies, including software creation, coding, artificial intelligence, and other fields.
Despite everything
A recent survey conducted by the agency Digitips, reported by BBC News, shows that Bukele is currently the most followed politician on TikTok, with 6.4 million followers, followed by Bolsonaro (5.5 million), Lula (4.4 million), and Macron (3.9 million).
On one hand, opinion polls and data collected by the State itself indicate popular acceptance of the government. On the other hand, the leader is denounced by globalist organizations due to alleged institutionalized violence and disrespect for the separation of powers.
New Term
At the beginning of the month, El Salvador's ruling party held internal elections to decide who would be the candidate for the government in the general elections that will take place in 2024, and received only one candidacy: the current president Nayib Bukele.
According to the country's Constitution, he would not be eligible to run for a new term due to the current exercise. Despite this, the head of state stated that he intends to run for the new election, which is expected to include more reforms that would allow him to remain in office.
With the government's popularity and little political strength from the opposition, the expectation of remaining in power is high.
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