Over the past two centuries, Latin America has had a significant “surplus of caudillos,” military and civilian dictators, elect-populist leaders, and other types of charlatans. As usual, they present themselves as “saviors” and are frantically praised by vast sectors of society. They promise economic prosperity and revenge against enemies (the real enemies and the imagined ones).
The newest member of such a club is El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who took office in June 2019. He has just completed two years in power and has another three to go but is already preparing constitutional reforms to remove the clause that prevents presidential elections, suggesting his plans for 2024.
Bukele was the son of an advertising businessman. He followed his father’s footsteps and, for 12 years, was in charge of the publicity for the Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN), the former Marxist guerrilla group turned into a political party. By this party, he was first elected mayor of Nuevo Custcatlán in 2012, and later, in 2015, elected mayor of the country’s capital, San Salvador. In 2018, he founded a new party called Nuevas Ideas (“New Ideas”), but the party was not allowed to participate in the elections. Bukele did, however, join the right-wing, conservative, and populist Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA).
In the electoral campaign, he promised to remove from power those he called “los mismos de siempre” (or the same old politicians), that is, the representatives of the FLMN and Arena. Its current allies and members of his government are, however, former members of the FMLN and Arena.
In February, days before he won a majority in Parliament, Bukele stormed the House of Representatives building dressed as an officer, accompanied by armed soldiers, to demand that deputies approve several demands for funding from the executive branch. In the elections shortly thereafter, Bukele won a large majority.
Bukele now has 61 votes in Parliament (out of a total of 84 seats), that is, enough to have a qualified majority. With more than 56 votes, any president can approve whatever he wants, from budgets to the suspension of constitutional guarantees and the appointment of members of the Supreme Court of Justice.
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In May, Bukele removed from office all five members of the Supreme Court, as well as the Attorney General. He then promised to purge more people from institutional posts in El Salvador. He was criticized by the European Union, the United States, and the UN. But Bukele was not intimidated by the criticism. He retorted, stating that these were Salvadoran internal affairs and that he was “cleaning the house.”
In a messianic tone, Bukele sustains that he is “building a new History.” His critics say he is a “telecrat,” as he is often seen on TV and social networks, through which he gives orders to ministers (and also fires them). It’s not unusual to him looking at the screen of his smartphone at all times during public events.
Bukele is a disturbing sign that authoritarian leaders these days don’t necessarily fit the usual conservative look; they can even be one and wear their caps backward.
Since the peace agreements reached nearly 30 years ago, Salvadoran politics had been split between two parties, the leftist FMNL, and the rightist Arena. But this polarization was imploded by the country’s new president. Now the division is between “bukelists” or “anti-bukelists.”
In his first years of government, Bukele “lost” a strategic argument, a crucial factor for the caudillos’ speech. There is no longer a way of accusing the opposition of blocking his projects in Parliament. With that, he will have to take responsibility for his own success or failure. There is always a way out in these cases: look for an “external enemy” or blame the national press.
He began cornering the press weeks ago when he ordered the Parliament to end tax breaks on newspapers. Neither the military dictatorships nor the governments (right or left) had ended the 1950’s tax exemption law, which allows newspapers to import raw materials, machinery, and equipment without paying taxes. The measure, a classic authoritarian move, was taken “coincidentally” after he was criticized by the press because of the lack of transparency in his government.
He began cornering the press weeks ago when he ordered the Parliament to end tax breaks on newspapers. Neither the military dictatorships nor the governments (right or left) had ended the 1950’s tax exemption law, which allows newspapers to import raw materials, machinery, and equipment without paying taxes. The measure, a classic authoritarian move, was taken “coincidentally” after he was criticized by the press because of the lack of transparency in his government.
One of the reasons his popularity is soaring is the drastic drop in murders in the country. See, for decades, El Salvador has been among the most violent countries in Latin America.
He says he applies a special plan to reduce violence without ever explaining which plan is this. There would be negotiations between the Salvadoran government and the “maras” (the name of the huge and truculent gangs that control various country’s regions) about which Bukele says nothing.
Investigations carried out by the news digital outlet El Faro indicate that the government granted penitentiary benefits to members of the maras, making the maximum-security system more flexible, removing guards that inmates considered too strict or violent, allowing the sale of pizzas inside prisons, among other things.
In recent years, the maras have turned into a kind of pressure group that threatens politicians to get money to buy weapons and distribute food in poor neighborhoods (a bargaining chip for the obedience of these vulnerable communities).
The announcement was made in English, although El Salvador’s official language is Spanish. Bukele did not hold a press conference to explain his decision. Instead, he talked about it through several posts on social networks.
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The NGO Acción Ciudadana declared that implementing bitcoins is a “smokescreen” to divert attention from the country’s problems. It’s a way of trying to improve Bukele’s international image, shaken by his recent authoritarian measures.
A few days ago, millennial Bukele unexpectedly took another “disruptive” attitude by announcing that El Salvador would become the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. The Central American nation will keep its currency, the Colón, but it will also use bitcoin.
The virtual currency project was unexpectedly submitted to Parliament without prior consultations with economists or public hearings. It was quickly approved by the Parliament, dominated by Bukele. The opposition only managed to make formal protests without being able to prevent presidential action.
The new law stipulates that all economic agents must accept payments in bitcoins. However, people who do not have access to technologies that allow transactions in virtual currency are excluded (70% of Salvadorans do not have a bank account and work in the informal economy).
According to Reuters, small transfers of bitcoin to El Salvador jumped over four-fold in May ($1.7 million) compared to a year ago ($424,000) but still represent a small amount when compared to remittances sent in dollars, showed data from Chainalysis, a platform that tracks crypto flows for financial firms and U.S. law enforcement. Its use versus traditional remittances suggests that bitcoin is still a niche tool for Salvadorans.
Shortly after the announcement, the IMF warned Bukele that the implementation of bitcoin “implies a series of macroeconomic, financial and legal problems.” But Salvadorans are enthusiastic about it; as with bitcoin immigrants residing in the United States, they will be able to send their remittances to their families in El Salvador without paying commissions. Today, remittances account for 20% of El Salvador’s GDP.
Translated by Fabiane Ziolla Menezes
