Latin America is infected with Nayib Bukele’s ‘winning formula’

“Years ago, if you got a flat tire and you went to the middle of the road to change it, gang members would come out and ask for your documents. If you lived in a neighborhood with a rival gang, they They would even kill you if you had no connection with gangs,” he says. carlos eduardoA taxi driver from San Salvador who is still wondering if he will vote in this Sunday’s elections. Questioning his country’s democracy following the decision of the man who was president between 2019 and 2023 to run for office today, he says, “They could have saved millions of dollars in elections because Nayib Bukele would win.” re-electionDespite the fact that several articles of the Constitution prohibit it.

It appears the majority of the population doesn’t care that he left it basic rules of democracy Running for a second term under exception system Continuously from March 2022. The war on gangs launched by Bukele is noticeable on the streets of San Salvador, where heavily armed troops and police patrol the center and peripheral areas on foot and in vehicles. There seems to be nothing to suggest that this country was one of the most dangerous countries in the world years ago, with rates of violence similar to those of a country at war. Groups of people dance casually cumbia in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral at night to the sounds of various bands which delight the people. There is a similar situation in Plaza Libertad where people of all ages are dancing to the rhythm of Latin music. “For two dollars, you can choose a song,” a woman yells, while a girl barely 10 years old tries to sell candy to curious people coming to watch.

It’s already night, but in front of the National Palace hundreds of people flock to the National Library of El Salvador until the early hours of the morning, a spectacular seven-story, brightly lit building that was inaugurated by Bukele on November 14, some from Days earlier the Legislative Assembly had given him six months’ permission to participate in the election campaign. Library is a symbol of Renovation of El Salvador, where, according to the then President, families could now walk in peace and return to their homes at night without fear of being murdered. To demonstrate this, he announced that the library, with a capacity of more than 360,000 books and funded by a $54 million donation from the Chinese government, would be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Great Chinese Ally

China has become Bukele’s main ally, given that it will also finance the new National Stadium, which will open its doors in 2027 with a capacity of 50,000 people, which will be built. “The most modern in Latin America and the largest in Central America” With an investment of 100 million dollars.

Bukele has devoted the past few months to the inauguration and announcement of infrastructure that was unimaginable in the Central American country under the previous governments of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), who shared Was. Government for 30 years. From 1989 to 2019. before temporarily leaving power in the hands of claudia juana rodríguez de guevaraIndulged herself on populist acts such as attending the Miss Universe pageant held in San Salvador on 18 November.

“El Salvador has changed forever and Miss Universe gives us a chance to show the world what we are capable of,” Bukele commented, referring to his war against gangs, which make up the vast majority of its population. He praised those who will vote for him today. Of confidence, as surveys predict. On the contrary, national and international organizations have condemned it. democratic return And this violation of human rights Following the establishment of emergency rule on March 27, 2022. In response to the random killings of 87 people in two days, the legislative assembly controlled by Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas, approved the measure which has been extended every month.

Since then, 77,000 people have been arrested for belonging to or collaborating with the main gangs in El Salvador. Mara Salvatrucha, 18 revolutionary neighborhoods And this surenos neighborhood, who are dedicated to extortion and crime and to whom Bukele has made unprecedented efforts. First, it did so with its flagship project: the Territorial Control Plan, which was launched on June 20, 2019, with which it is intended double the military presence up to 40,000 troops and resulting in military sieges of entire cities. Three years later, emergency rule was approved to deliver the final blow to an estimated 70,000 members of the so-called gangs that, according to Bukele, have caused 120,000 deaths over the past 30 years. Since the end of the civil conflict in 1992, no ruler has succeeded in ending this phenomenon. Has spread like cancer in Honduras and Guatemala Adopting the same violent methods and controlling entire neighborhoods.

Terrorism Prevention Center

Bukele aspires to be the first to curb these criminal groups and to achieve this, his main focus in his special war has been terrorism detention centers, a Mega jail with capacity of 40,000 prisoners, Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Cristocel have reported mass detentions and arbitrary arrests. There are also reports that reveal cases of torture More than 200 unknown deaths in jailsAccording to humanitarian legal aid.

However, official police data supports this policy. strong hand Who aspires to preside over the country for five more years from June 1, 2024. Police statistics place 2023 as “the safest year in the history of El Salvador”, with 154 murders and a murder rate of 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. 106.3 which were counted in 2015.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Bukele The most valuable president in Latin AmericaWith 90% support, according to the Latinobarometro report prepared by Chile’s corporation of the same name, which warns that the Bukele influence in El Salvador “is not making democracy more robust in that country, but rather making the president more powerful”. . In this sense, the Latinobarometro corporation has warned that, following his decision to re-elect himself, “democracy is in extreme danger in El Salvador”, noting that there is a risk that he will be “a leader who will keep all the power in his hands.” Will take the pass” and the country becomes a dictatorship.

Rovira I Virgili University Historian sergio medeu olivares An article published in the Barcelona International Information and Documentation Center (CIDOB) states that the price that El Salvador is paying with Bukele’s security strategy is “very high in terms of reduction of constitutional freedoms or continued violations of rights.” Despite this, he believes that “Bukkelism is happening Subject of investigation in remaining Latin American countriesSome of which have opened the floodgates by increasing the possibility of importing their security policies.

The latest to do so is Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, who has calmed the chaos unleashed in the country by drug traffickers squabbling over control of the streets. The most violent country in Latin AmericaWith a rate of 46.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Given this scenario, he has chosen to mimic Bukele by imposing a state of emergency for 60 days from January 8, including a curfewAlso mobilization of police and army across the country.

However, Ecuador is still a far cry from El Salvador, which was once the most violent country in Latin America and which has seen crime rates drop due to its strong policy. In Honduras where the leftists rule Xiomara Castro has also failed bukele planAs evidenced by the murder of 46 women in a prison massacre in June 2023. Neither the state of emergency approved on December 6, 2022, which suspended constitutional rights, nor prison interventions have yet ended endemic violence.

While El Salvador’s formulas are not fully implemented in Ecuador and Honduras, Insight Crime reported in a report published in 2023 that Bukele’s repression has achieved “Bow” to the gangs., who have been “neutralized” at least “temporarily”, noting that there are members who “remain hidden.” For this reason, he warns that gangs have been “weakened, but not defeated”, noting that “at least a third of gang members are still free and About 53 cells are still active in El SalvadorAccording to police estimates.”

Bukele has no intention of ending the regime, which, although it has eroded citizens’ rights, has allowed a sense of security never seen before. “Now the eyes of the world are on El Salvador and we do not want the failed prescriptions of the past because our country has changed and no one can deny that,” Bukele stressed on his social networks. Leo Messi On the occasion of a friendly match played between Inter Miami and the Salvadoran team on January 19.