El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele Went From Being A Fresh Face In Central America To A ‘Cool’ Dictator
October 2, 2021—For many El Salvadorians, Nayib Bukele seemed like a new hope when he won the presidency in 2019.
He was a young guy, just 38 years old when he won the presidency. With a career as mayor of San Salvador, the country’s capital, his entrance to the political stage looked like the start of a brand-new generation of Central American and Latin American politicians.
A Talented Publicist
Prior to launching a career in politics, Bukele had already gained a reputation as a talented publicist in the capital city. An El Salvadorian of Palestinian descent, he merged skills in business and marketing well. He owned a nightclub called Code in the popular Zona Rosa district.
He also worked for the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), before becoming one of the faces of the party and rising in its ranks.
Promises For El Salvador
When he took office in 2019, he promised to combat gang violence and corruption, break the country’s ties with left-wing governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, and draw closer to the United States.
Selfie-Taking Social Media Star
He also promised to embrace the internet, which he said in a speech to the UN General Assembly is “the real world.”
“The thing is,” Bukele said in his first speech as president to the UN General Assembly. “Although we might not want to accept it and we might kick against it, the internet is increasingly becoming the real world.”
First Acts
People saw him as an outsider who would reform the system —a fresh face in Central America and El Salvador politics who would lift people out of poverty, invest in the country and free the country from the chains of corruption.
But of course, that’s not what happened. His first big act as president was to give more power to the police. While that had some benefits, it came at a cost. On the positive side, it worked in reducing the country’s murder rate from the biggest in the world to only 3.3 homicides by 100.000 people. However, you could also find social media posts of prisoners trapped in small cages.
Even then, Bukele got applauded by the Left for arguing with Donald Trump about migration.
Meanwhile, the Right praised him for kicking Venezuelan diplomats from the country and recognizing Juan Guaidó as interim president. That, by the way, is a position he maintains.
The World’s ‘Coolest Dictator,’ He Says
Bukele is one of the most media-savvy presidents in the world. His Twitter account is not just constantly active, but he also takes the time to answer, personally, people who write to him.
He also writes to other people, both to say thanks to his followers, and to attack his critics.
But reading his timeline gets more and more disturbing as you scroll down. And, recently, he changed his bio on the platform to read “The coolest dictator in the world.”
Strongman Tactics, Starting With The Courts
In the last two years, Bukele has little by little taken the old Latin American strongman playbook and deployed it like a manual.
He took the Army into Congress to demand approval of a loan. Then, when his party won the congressional elections, he used his new power to retire the judges from the constitutional courts. (The constitutional court is El Salvador’s equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court.) Then, he replaced them with judges that were supportive of his government.
New Presidential Powers
He used this new constitutional court to propose a constitutional reform, where he has already confirmed that he will not legalize abortion or gay marriage. That’s a decision that is widely criticized inside the country. The new text also gives the president a new set of powers, a longer period and the possibility to be reelected indefinitely.
More recently, in what looks like a unilateral move, he decided to make Bitcoin the official currency of El Salvador. Supposedly, that’s a way to be less dependent on the United States.
U.S.-El Salvador Friction
In recent months, Bukele has signaled that the United States is a country that’s an enemy. That came after the Biden Administration and members of the U.S. Congress criticized him for ousting top judges and the attorney general. The administration also canceled USAID funds for El Salvador’s police and public information institute, shifting them to civil society groups.
None of that has stopped Bukele from carving his own path—an autocratic one at that.
Bitcoin Bravado
The Bitcoin decision, which he rushed through the Bukele-controlled Congress, has been widely criticized for a lot of the same reasons. Cryptocurrency has critics in the first place, primarily due to the lack of its transparency and also how that it facilitates corruption. Bukele recently showed off the country’s geothermal facility, which uses volcanic activity to mine the coins.
Only time will tell if the Bitcoin decision succeeds in firing up the country or if it fails in leaving the population in ashes.
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