El Salvador’s voters are poised to re-elect the current president, Nayib Boucle, who calls himself “the world’s coolest dictator,” in a landslide victory that has restored the country’s crime-ridden reputation.
“The opposition will be able to achieve its only real plan, which is to free gang members and use them to return to power,” Bukele warned in a video that was posted on El Salvador’s social media. It quickly spread to the media and news organizations.
Bukele’s controversial tenure as Central America’s leader has seen him run for a second term despite a constitutional ban on re-election, with a revamp of the Constitutional Court replacing judges with supporters. Thanks to the ruling that says it can be done, it seems likely that it will continue in the future.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has questioned the relationship between the U.S. and El Salvador, claiming that Boucle poses a “threat to democracy” and asking the U.S. State Department to confide in the Central American country. requested that the relationship be reviewed.
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“The people of El Salvador have the right to free and fair elections without fear of repression,” Omar wrote on social media X.
A community note on her post notes that Bukele won the 2019 election with a 54% majority and that his crackdown on gang violence cemented his immense popularity with 91% approval rating among voters. He pointed out that it was helpful.
People walk past a mural depicting Salvadoran President and Nuevas Idea party re-election candidate Nayib Bukele at a restaurant in San Salvador on February 2, 2024. El Salvador heads to the polls on February 4th. (Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)
Bukele fired back at Omar, joking that he was “honored” to be “attacked by you” and said he would be very worried if she supported him in the election.
Bukele came to power in 2019 and clashed with the Legislative Assembly over policies including tough restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. His party took control of the National Assembly in 2021 and began enacting new laws that would allow it to make sweeping changes to other branches of government and effectively wage war on gangs in the country.
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El Salvador, once known as the world’s “murder capital,” has undergone sweeping reforms that have allowed the government to round up hundreds of suspected gang members and herd them into rapidly established super-prisons. went.
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador speaks at the inauguration of Bijosa Laboratories’ new factory on November 20, 2023 in La Libertad, El Salvador. (Alex Peña/Getty Images)
The prison will be built in just a few months in 2022 and can hold up to 40,000 people, guarded by thousands of military personnel. Bukele made an effort to share lots of videos and photos of the prison and its first few thousand residents.
This measure ultimately wiped out many potentially innocent men and led to a drop in murder and crime rates the following year. El Salvador’s Minister of Justice and Security, Gustavo Villatoro, claimed that the country recorded 154 murders in 2023, a 70% decrease from the previous year.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) poses for a group photo with Congressional Black leaders in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
According to Reuters, this would be a rate of 2.4 per 100,000 people, which could be the lowest in the Americas outside of Canada.
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In a May 2023 interview with Fox News Digital, Bukele’s vice president and running mate, Felix Ulloa, claimed the country “faces a problem” with gang violence and said the United States would continue to crack down on gang violence. He called on the country to invest in the country. criminal.
Prison officials arrive after 2,000 gang members were transferred to a terrorist confinement center, according to El Salvadoran President Nayib Boucle in Tecolca, El Salvador, according to a document distributed to Reuters on February 24, 2023. He sometimes observes the processing of gang members. (Handout via Presidential Secretariat/Reuters)
Ulloa said if El Salvador and other countries could similarly address their crime crisis, it would help alleviate the migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border, as many people fleeing north do so to escape their crime-ridden homelands. I argued that it would be.
El Salvador’s success has made Mr. Boucle so popular that other countries such as Honduras and the Dominican Republic are trying to replicate the model, raising concerns from civil rights activists.
2,000 gang members are in a terrorist confinement center, El Salvadoran President Nayib Boucle said in Tecolca, El Salvador, in a document distributed to Reuters on March 15, 2023. After being transferred, gang members wait to be taken to solitary confinement. (Handout via Presidential Secretariat/Reuters)
Ulloa admitted to The Associated Press this week that the government “made a mistake” by detaining thousands of innocent people as part of a routine sweep to profile young people for fear of gang involvement. .
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Ulloa argued that El Salvador is not a “police state” but rather a “state that provides security.” Bukele continues to insist that the country’s “war on gangs” will be “at risk” if he loses the election.
Critics have also pointed to other troubling developments in parliament, such as Mr. Bukele’s efforts to reduce the number of local governments, contributing to his party’s victory and dominance in local and parliamentary elections in March. It may help ensure sex.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
