UNITED NATIONS, New York – El Salvador's President Najib Bukele, in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, warned that society was “heading towards a frightening tipping point” as the world entered “dark times.”
Bukele told the UN General Assembly that although his country was small, it was a shining example for other countries to follow, stressing that “we don't jail our opponents, we don't censor opinion, we don't confiscate the property of people who think differently.”
“We do not arrest people for expressing their views,” Bukele said. “Freedom of expression and private property will always be protected in El Salvador.”
“In El Salvador, we have prioritized the safety of honest citizens over the comfort of criminals,” he added. “Some say we have incarcerated thousands, but in reality we have freed millions.”
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El Salvador's President Najib Bukele speaks at the 79th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 24, 2024. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Elon Musk praised Bukele's “great speech” on social media platform X, highlighting the part where the president spoke about “dark times ahead” and the need to “protect ourselves from the coming storm in order to hold on to hope.” Bukele toured the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, last week ahead of his speech at the United Nations.
“Some say we've imprisoned thousands of people, but in reality we've liberated millions.”
“As a Salvadoran, I understand these signs because we have been through all of this,” Bukele said. “We have seen the state collapse, step by step, and now we are witnessing the same steps, this time on a global scale.”
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and El Salvador's President Nayib Buker at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, on September 20, 2024. (President's Secretariat/Handout via Reuters)
President Bukele has gained international fame for cracking down on his country's crime problem, transforming what was once the “murder capital of the world” by building super prisons for tens of thousands of inmates and giving expanded powers to authorities to clear the streets of gangs and even those suspected of criminal activity.
President Bukele attributed this rapid and momentous change to the people remembering that “freedom is taken, not given,” and went a step further, calling on others to come to El Salvador and “contribute to our vision.”
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A general view of the terrorism detention center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on February 1, 2023. (Secretaria de Presa de la Presidencia/File via Reuters)
“This is not easy,” Bukele said. “The next steps may actually be harder than the steps we have taken so far. We have liberated our country, but we need to preserve this freedom and maintain it in a world where we are increasingly losing freedom.”
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“El Salvador has moved beyond its past, but it does not want to go back to it,” he added. “It is not too late to build bridges and escape the dust storm.”
