El Salvador came to a complete standstill this Saturday to witness the inauguration of Nayib Bukele, the president who will govern the Central American nation for at least another five years. The roads of San Salvador have been emptied of cars and old buses, office buildings have turned off computers and coffee machines, and businesses have lowered their blinds by order of the authorities. Working today is a sin, a distraction from what is really important. Congress, run by his party, has declared a paid holiday for everyone: the eyes of an entire country must be on one man, Nayib Bukele.
It has become common to say that if someone dropped their mobile phone on the street, they could return two days later and find it in the same place. Nobody dares to commit a crime in the country that Bukele has designed, a place where there is no longer a trace of the gang members who terrorized the population for decades and who are now locked up in maximum security prisons where no one can enter. a ray of sun Military and police officers with weapons of war are stationed 24 hours a day on almost every corner. In return, El Salvado has experienced a deterioration in human rights and a decline in civil liberties. The president and the nucleus of power that surrounds him, among whom are his brothers – all children of a polygamous father -, dominate almost all the institutions of the State and have forced the seams of the Constitution so that Bukele could run for re-election. , which until now was prohibited.
Its omnipresence is overwhelming. At the exit of the country’s international airport, the San Óscar Arnulfo Romero, a replica of his office has been erected, with two gray armchairs with golden armrests, the coat of arms of the republic on the wall and a portrait of Bukele with the presidential sash and a blue handkerchief sticking out of a pocket of his jacket. Travelers line up to take a photo and upload it to social networks. Meanwhile, the planes of international dignitaries landed on the sun-baked asphalt runways surrounded by mountains. The arrival of the King of Spain, Felipe VI, generated enormous expectation. He was followed by the president of Argentina, Javier Milei; that of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; and Donald Trump Jr, the son of the Republican candidate who has just been convicted of using campaign money to buy the silence of an actress with whom he had extramarital sexual relations. This last visit is especially eloquent: Bukele very often receives the support of influencers far-right Americans, who see in him the ideal of heavy-handedness and cool authoritarianism.
In these five years, through constant regimes of exception decreed by Congress, he took the military to the streets and detained thousands of young people who have ended up in prison, some of them with many homicides behind them, but others only for having the wrong tattoo on the skin or under charges with little support. Entering this judicial system means entering a labyrinth from which there are few exits. Lawyers cannot contact their clients and cannot prepare a defense. Human rights organizations have presented devastating reports on the lack of procedural guarantees, and some journalistic investigations have also exposed it. However, none of this worries voters, who gave him unanimous support in early February. The opposition was devastated, deactivated, evaporated almost by magic. The political weight of an entire country rests on the shoulders of a single person, a 43-year-old man of Palestinian origin who has proposed to re-found El Salvador, in the manner of the great liberators of Latin America. Those who have dealt with him closely agree that these grandiose ideas are consistent with his narcissistic personality.
With the local mafias deactivated for their fierce fight against crime, Bukele faces serious economic problems in this second term. The capital has been filled with imperial buildings, parks and stadiums built during his administration. Now comes the time to balance the accounts. “This is a worse country in fiscal terms than when he arrived. He must face consequences for his spending and his debt. There is very little room for maneuver to know where the money is going to come from in this five-year period. He has to pay international investors, such as Eurobonds, or pension debt. We are waiting to see if he is going to raise taxes or cut expenses: both things imply complex situations for the population,” he says. the independent economist Tatiana Marroquín.
For some, the fact that he assumes a new mandate despite constitutional brakes turns his inauguration into a farce. “It is completely illegal and unconstitutional,” says Ingrid Escoba, director of the organization, by phone. Humanitarian legal relief. “Presidential re-election was not allowed and, therefore, what will happen this June 1 cannot be recognized. The only thing that is consolidated in an authoritarian dictatorship that has already threatened to refound the country. The serious thing is that said refoundation is tailored to the commercial bourgeoisie that Bukele, his family and friends represent. For the people, there will only be an enormous loss of human rights,” he adds.
Bukele has received Noboa, his mirror in Ecuador, with special affection. That president, 36 years old, is from the same generation as his colleague, ignores the traditional media in the same way, and both come from rich families. Noboa also governs his country with emergency decrees and does not hesitate to take measures that go against the law, as he did with the assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito. Noboa’s popularity does not reach the indices of Bukele’s, but for now he maintains figures that make him a favorite for the 2025 presidential elections. Imitating the way of governing E
l Salvador is giving him political returns, even if it means trying in some way the outer contour of democracy. This postmodern and disruptive formula, sweetened with Instagram filters, has brought Bukele here. And he wants everyone to see it and appreciate it. For this reason, this Saturday, in El Salvador, it is prohibited to work: it is time to turn on the television and watch attentively enthronement.
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