Many South Africans might not know that South Africa was not always the murder capital of the world. That unfortunate title long belonged to El Salvador. That is before a unique figure, Nayib Bukele, entered the stage of Salvadoran politics, leaving an indelible mark on a nation stricken with violence by drug cartels and gangs.
Bukele is the enigmatic president of El Salvador, whose rise to power resembles a Silicon Valley CEO’s ascent more than that of a traditional politician. Bukele’s journey from a small mayoral seat to the helm of the Salvadoran state is a story of audacity, populism, and the fusion of strongman tendencies exercised through democratic mechanisms. It is, to a large extent, the curious case of the democratically elected dictator.
Bukele first entered the political arena as a candidate for the socialist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a party with a history deeply entrenched in El Salvador’s civil war. But from the outset, Bukele was an outlier, running campaigns that echoed the strategies of tech moguls rather than conforming to the traditional suit-and-tie politician mould. His appeal was immediate, and his actions as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán in 2012 made him a rising star in Salvadoran politics.
Nuevo Cuscatlán, a town plagued by social and infrastructure issues, found a saviour in Bukele. He embarked on a mission to revitalise the town, building clinics, libraries, and championing literacy. The transformation was profound and exemplified by a remarkable reduction in homicides. Before Bukele took office, Nuevo Cuscatlán grappled with around 12 homicides annually. During his three-year tenure, only one homicide was reported, in stark contrast with the rest of the country.
This success carried over when Bukele won the mayoral seat of the capital city San Salvador in 2015, representing a coalition of FMLN and the Salvadoran Progressive Party. His achievements continued, leaving no doubt about his political prowess. However, tensions brewed within the FMLN, and in 2017, Bukele was expelled, accused of promoting internal division.
The expulsion marked a turning point. Bukele’s aspirations shifted, and he positioned himself as an independent who rejected the prevailing political system. The establishment of the political party “Nuevas Ideas” (New Ideas) was his next move, aimed at creating a platform to run for the presidency. Yet even this path faced opposition. The Supreme Electoral Court of El Salvador dissolved Nuevas Ideas, leading Bukele to join the relatively new centre-right Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party to pursue his presidential ambitions, disregarding the ideological chasm separating him from his previous socialist party association.
In 2019, Bukele’s unconventional journey reached its political peak as he won the Presidency with 53 percent of the vote. His ascent to power, marked by a relentless pursuit of change and the rejection of traditional party structures, was a harbinger of things to come.
Shortly after his election, Bukele found himself embroiled in controversy over a proposed $109 million loan from the United States to fund his Territorial Control Plan. The Territorial Control Plan is a massive nearly martial anti-gang programme in El Salvador, consisting of multiple phases designed to tackle the country’s deep-rooted gang problem. Opposition parties cited concerns over increased militarisation of the national police, and refused to attend the legislature, leaving it without a quorum to approve the loan. In response, Bukele resorted to the dramatic and constitutionally questionable step of invoking an obscure and loosely worded constitutional provision to summon the legislators who intended to abscond from the sitting to prevent a quorum, citing a “constitutional crisis” which necessitates their presence.
The situation took a regrettable turn when Bukele ordered soldiers into the Legislative Assembly, effectively intimidating legislators into approving the loan. This incident was condemned as an attempted self-coup, and the Supreme Court of El Salvador firmly ruled against Bukele’s invocation of the constitution which pushed through the approval of the loan. Nevertheless, Bukele chose to defy the court’s ruling, opting to rather forge ahead with what he deemed was in the country’s best interest, with the support of the general Salvadoran public.
Bukele’s hardline approach, marked by the modern newly built largest prison in the world, brought the issue into the global spotlight. With a capacity of 40,000 inmates, it was an audacious move, coupled with glitzy social media promotions. At the opening of the prison a well-choreographed 30-minute promotional video was live-streamed, where Bukele toured the new prison. The TCP aimed to crack down on gangs with this new penitentiary capacity, but this crackdown took place with a notable lack of what the Western world would describe as due process.
Paradoxically, while Bukele’s rule is marred by a disregard for democratic norms, such as the separation of powers and adherence to the judicial order, it also coincided with a notable drop in crime and improved living standards. El Salvador, a nation known for its high crime rates, witnessed its safety improve to levels unseen in the past three decades. The nation that was infamous for its staggering murder rate has now achieved an opposite distinction – it boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, nearly twice that of the United States. Bukele’s methods, shrewd politics and at times brute force, proved effective in maintaining control and improving the lives of Salvadorans.
Perhaps most intriguing is the fact that Bukele, despite being labelled an autocrat, authoritarian, and a strongman by every entity that believes it to be in a position to condemn, has managed to maintain an exceptionally high approval rating throughout his presidency, making him the most popular president in Salvadoran history. His declarations of being the “Dictator of El Salvador” or the “Emperor of El Salvador,” though laced with irony, did not deter his popularity, with approval ratings consistently hovering around 87 percent.
Bukele’s latest move to run for re-election in 2024 has also raised eyebrows, as constitutional lawyers in the country argue that presidential re-election violates the nation’s constitution. However, polling conducted after his announcement indicates that around 90 percent of Salvadorans would support his re-election campaign. It’s a testament to his charisma and the peculiar brand of leadership that leads to tangible results that has captured the Salvadoran public.
The rise of Nayib Bukele prompts profound questions about the interplay between democracy and liberty. Benjamin Franklin’s assertion that trading essential liberty for temporary safety merits neither may not hold true in El Salvador’s context. For many Salvadorians, freedom seems to equate to freedom from crime, drugs, and the dysfunctional governments of the past. Freedom to them might be freedom from the tyranny of crime and poverty. Bukele’s journey, marked by a blend of democratic processes and questionable strongman tendencies, challenges the conventional wisdom that democracy is a precondition for liberty.
Is freedom a universal concept? I would submit yes. At its core it represents the absence of oppression and the liberty to shape one’s life. However, oppression takes on varied forms, and for the people of El Salvador, it materialises in the grim reality of rampant violence and the menacing grip of drug cartels and gangs. In the era of Nayib Bukele, his leadership has brought a semblance of safety and security to a nation long plagued by these threats. But what happens when the political landscape changes, and it’s no longer the benevolent Bukele in power? Perhaps this longer-term view is what Franklin was referring to.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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