Bukele re-elected: the victory of violence

The re-election of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador is no surprise. His popularity and approval among citizens, above 70%, the manipulation of the Constitution and the irrelevance of the opposition, predicted an inevitable result. Bukele became extremely popular because of his apparent effectiveness in solving, in record time, gang violence in El Salvador.

Is what Bukele preaches sustainable? Is it really a fascinating phenomenon worth what it is costing Salvadoran society?

Bukele is the result of 30 years of post-war and democracy in which the majority of the population, in El Salvador, witnessed a worsening of social inequalities, the increase in migration/expulsion of the most vulnerable sectors, the unfulfilled promises of the right and left and, of course, the uncontrollable expansion and strengthening of gang violence throughout the country. El Salvador became recognized as one of the most dangerous countries in the world. In 2015, the homicide rate reached 106 per 100,000 inhabitants.

In March 2022, after breaking the pact he had with these criminal groups, Bukele established a state of exception that gave him the power to pursue and imprison anyone suspected of being part of the gangs. Almost 1% of the population was deprived of liberty without procedural guarantees or respect for their human rights.

Almost three decades after the signing of the peace agreements, when Bukele arrived with his “magic formula” to end the gangs, the word democracy meant little or nothing to the majority. In this vacuum, authoritarian and repressive forms had a concrete and tangible impact on the lives of a large part of Salvadorans: the reduction of violence and the increase in the quality of daily life of many people. El Salvador closed 2023 with a homicide rate of 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. That is much more than what they received in the last thirty years and, compared to that, for that majority, the costs that democracy is paying do not seem very high.

However, the phenomenon of violence in El Salvador has its roots in historical social inequalities that can hardly be solved with mere repression. Repressing a problem is just that, repressing it, does not mean solving it. If the causes of that problem are still there, sooner or later they will explode again, perhaps with new forms, ways, names, but they will return to remind us that they never left.

Beyond the controversies, it is crucial to remember that the strategy of the president of El Salvador continues to have, above all, a high human cost. Bukele has achieved what he has achieved alone, and alone, because he and his government violate the human rights of thousands of men and women, especially those in the most vulnerable conditions. Because the president's actions are not directed at the elites or the middle classes, but rather have a clear class cut and are focused on impoverished people. Those who for thirty years were the main victims of the gangs, are now the bodies marked by the Government's repression. And it is not just the bodies of those who are deprived of their freedom. These two years of state of emergency have also taken a toll on children, youth, women and dissident voices from those sectors. Dozens of children and adolescents were left helpless when the state took away their fathers and mothers. Since then, grandmothers, aunts, sisters had to assume the financial support, physical care and psychological repercussions of all of them. The work, economic and care burden has intensified on the shoulders of women. In this context, the state of exception has also become a tool to persecute human rights and environmental defenders. Under the excuse that anyone can be suspected of being a gang member, several rural leaders and their families have been intimidated or detained.

An indefinite state of exception, which violates fundamental rights of some in exchange for relative and temporary tranquility for the rest of the population, is yet another form of violence for El Salvador. A violence that is proving to be ineffective in achieving true social stability, and that must be understood as proof of the president's inability to offer real and lasting solutions that do not involve the systematic violation of the human rights of the country's citizens. that governs

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