Today we are going to talk about the most violent country in the world: El Salvador.
When we think of El Salvador, we think of Salvadoran gangs, migrant caravans and the
highest homicide rates in the world. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
To give you an idea, El Salvador's homicide rate is comparable to that of countries that
are at war. In 2015, the homicide rate in this country was 1 homicide per 1000 people.
To put that in perspective, more people are murdered in El Salvador than die in road accidents.
We are talking about the Land of the Maras. And what are the maras?
Well, they are ultra-violent street gangs. They are usually dedicated to drug trafficking.
Their members are distinguished from each other by the tattoos that typically cover
their bodies.
The two most important gangs are the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara Barrio 18. To give
you an idea of the magnitude of the problem, it is estimated that Barrio 18 has between
50,000 and 100,000 members.
But we're not just talking about violence! A third of Salvadorans live on less than US$5.50
a day. Remittances sent by emigrants account for almost 20% of the country's entire GDP.
In other words, we are talking about one of the most dismal countries in the world.
However... What if I told you that all this is changing? Yes, indeed, from time to time
characters capable of changing the course of history appear. And this video is about
to introduce you to one such protagonist. The new Latin American rock star. We are talking
about... NAYIB BUKELE [NIGH EEB BOO KE LE. The President of El Salvador.
If you’re watching this video from Europe, Bukele's name probably won’t ring any bells.
But, believe me, in Latin America he is the new messiah. And the truth is that he is a
unique character.
Within just two years of his presidency he has managed to reduce crime by half. Not even
the coronavirus has managed to lower his popularity levels. He is a revolutionary... but not the
classic leftist revolutionary.
Bukele is one of the youngest leaders in Latin America. He is 39 years old and continuously
active on social media. And he is not afraid to make drastic decisions. To give you an
idea, he just announced that BitCoin will be legal tender in El Salvador.
However, despite all his achievements, the United States doesn’t trust him. Check it
out.
(U.S. Senators ask Biden to put pressure on President Bukele. Voice of America)
So what is wrong with Nayib Bukele? I’m sure many of you are already imagining it.
It is not the first time that Latin America has fallen for a new messiah who promises
miracles and ends up becoming a tyrant. And, the truth is that there are many indications
that Bukele could turn El Salvador into a dictatorship.
So the questions we are asking today are: What is Bukele up to in El Salvador? Are we
talking about the hero this country really needs... or is he just another aspiring tyrant?
Today we will answer these questions but first....
Before we get started, I want to remind you that we have a newsletter dedicated exclusively
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And now, let's head back to El Salvador and take a look at some history.
(A STAR IS BORN)
The first question you might be asking yourself is... Where does the name Nayib Bukele come
from? I mean... Nayib sounds more like an Arab name, right? Well you are correct. Bukele's
family comes from Palestine.
This may seem like a side note but it is yet another symbol of how far removed this man
is from conventional politics. You will rarely see him in a suit and tie. But his differences
go far beyond image and genealogy. To fully understand this figure, we have to know a
little about the history of El Salvador.
You see, back in 1979, the Salvadoran army carried out a coup d'état and established
a military junta in the country. This is how a civil war broke out between the leftist
guerrillas, the so-called Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front or FMLN, and the
military.
This war did not end until 1992 and left more than 75,000 dead in its wake. In 1992, the
two sides went from confronting each other in the streets to confronting each other at
the ballot box.
But, in reality, nothing much really changed: violence in the streets and corruption in
government offices. By 2015, El Salvador broke its own record homicide rate. And neither
of the two major parties seemed willing to do anything to change it.
However, on 3 October 2018, things did change forever.
Bukele's story is a curious one. He began his political career in the FMLN. That is,
in the left-wing party. That is how he won the mayor's office in San Salvador. However,
in 2017, he was kicked out of the party. Under normal conditions, that would have been the
end of his career. But this is the 21st century.
And these days politicians have a tool that few know how to use well: social media. The
Internet allows us to have our own means of communication without depending on third parties.
Some politicians like Donald Trump and Alexei Navalny have understood this well.
But, without a doubt, Nayib Bukele has managed to turn digital communication into an artform.
Thanks to social media, Bukele did not lose contact with his voters. And that was how
he announced his campaign and his new party in 2018 – “Nuevas Ideas” [Nway Vas EE
Day Uz] – the "New Ideas” movement.
And you’re probably thinking, seriously? Is it really that easy to set up a political
party overnight? If any of you watching this video have experience in politics, you already
know that setting up a political party is very complicated.
One charismatic candidate is not enough. You need to organize the base of affiliates, plan
campaigns, etc... So how did Nayib Bukele create his party? Well, in a masterful way:
by opting for one that already existed. That’s right. Bukele joined a minority right-wing
party: GANA. The strategy worked perfectly.
(Bukele Breaks El Salvador's Two-Party Hold on Power. As/Coa.)
That’s right: Bukele won by absolute majority. That is, despite coming from a minority party,
he won more than 50% of the votes. That is how he left the two other parties in a corner.
And all this at only 37 years old.
So what was his first political act? Well, seconds before taking the oath of office,
before saying a single word, he took out his cell phone and took a selfie to post on Twitter.
And you may ask, but what was his electoral vision? What did Bukele promise Salvadorans
to make them fall in love with him in this way? Very simple.
It may seem like a very simple slogan. But it was something totally new in El Salvador's
politics. To give you an idea, of the last four presidents this country has had, three
have been involved in million-dollar corruption scandals. So the hashtag #DevuelvanLoRobado
– Return the Loot – sounded like music to the ears.
But we're not just talking about domestic politics! In September 2019, Bukele gave his
first official speech at the United Nations. And what do you think he did? Well, before
he uttered a single word, when he was already up at the lectern, he took a selfie and uploaded
it to Instagram.
To give you an idea, Bukele has three million followers on Twitter and two million on Instagram.
These may seem like usual numbers for a political leader. But remember that the population of
El Salvador is only 6.4 million people.
That is, the equivalent of almost half of the country follows him on social media.
As you can see, we are talking about a political rock star. But the most important thing about
Bukele is not his personality but his actions. And this is where the least attractive part
of his mandate comes in. We are going to take a look at that right now.
(A FIRM HAND)
Beyond corruption and poverty, El Salvador's main problem is violence. We could say that
the Salvadoran maras are a parallel State: they live beyond the law and there are hardly
any police who dare to stand up to them.
You could say that Salvadoran cities are a war zone where the gangs have taken over large
territories under their control. So, under the hashtag #TerritorialControlPlan, Bukele
deployed 2,500 officers and 3,000 soldiers to the country's capital.
The objective was to recover 12 territories controlled by the maras. From one day to the
next, the police conducted controls of weapons, drugs and tattoos. Think about it: gang members
are easily recognizable because they have symbolic tattoos.
For example, members of the Mara Salvatrucha are tattooed with an "M" and an "S" in gothic
letters. The police arrested thousands of criminals. So far, everything sounds fantastic.
So where does the controversy come from? Well, the controversy arises in the way that they
go about it. For example, the police did not limit themselves to arresting the offenders
but also took them to public squares to publicly shame them.
And you’re probably thinking, so is the iron fist approach working? Well, at the moment,
it seems to be. To give you an idea, the homicide rate in 2015 was 101 per 100,000 inhabitants.
In 2018 it was 51, and in 2019 it was down to 36. At the moment, El Salvador is experiencing
its lowest levels of violence since the end of the Civil War! That being said, El Salvador
is still an extremely dangerous country.
And the same goes for corruption. Three months after Bukele being sworn in, El Salvador launched
the International Commission Against Impunity, the so-called CICIES.
In this way, conflicts of interest would be avoided. In fact, we have to recognize that
Nayib Bukele has been able to attract multi-million dollar donations thanks to his style of politics.
For example, the Warren Buffet Foundation donated $25 million to the Salvadoran police.
Under normal circumstances, almost all of this money would have gone into the pockets
of some politician. In this case, however, that $25 million paid for El Salvador's first
Forensic Investigation Center.
For the first time in the history of this country, the police will be able to do DNA
tests in order to solve crimes.
At this point you might be wondering, so how has he managed the coronavirus? Well, in this
respect, we also have to give Bukele a round of applause. El Salvador was one of the first
countries to act.
In March 2020, when there were only a few cases in the country, El Salvador quarantined
itself. To give you an idea, at the time of making this video, El Salvador already had
14% of the population vaccinated. Not a spectacular number compared to the United States or Israel.
But remember that we are talking about one of the poorest countries in Latin America.
El Salvador is much further ahead than other South American countries like Argentina, Panama
or Colombia.
All this explains why Bukele's popularity is unbeatable. A whopping 88% of Salvadorans
are very satisfied with his administration.
But his popularity is not limited to El Salvador! In international politics, Bukele has managed
to achieve the impossible. His first trip as President was to Washington DC.
There he met with Trump's National Security Advisor and openly criticized China. This
happened in March 2019. Well, months later, in December 2019, he met with Xi Jinping in
China. From that trip, he secured a million-dollar investment. China is going to build a sports
stadium, a library, a water treatment plant and a vacation resort.
In other words: Bukele is getting investment from everywhere: China, the United States,
Japan... and of course, there’s the $389 million loan from the International Monetary
Fund for coronavirus relief.
In other words, he looks like a new Winston Churchill, doesn't he? So... What is wrong
with Nayib Bukele? Why do we say he is such a controversial figure? Well, let's take a
look at that right now.
(BUKELE'S DARK SIDE)
On the surface, it looks like Bukele is doing a fantastic job in the fight against crime.
But if we look at the past, we see that this is not the first time the homicide rate has
dropped in El Salvador. Take a look at this graph.
Here you can see how in the year 2012, the number of homicides also dropped dramatically.
Because the gangs had reached a truce. Once the truce was over, violence increased again.
What's more, if you look closely, you will see how homicides peaked in 2015 but began
to fall before Bukele's victory.
In other words... Can we really say that Bukele's iron fist is working? With the data in hand,
it is still too early to say. What we can say for sure is that Bukele's firm hand is
much more than propaganda. Listen up.
(Bukele authorizes police to kill gang members in El Salvador after bloody weekend. El País)
But wait a minute because that's not all! Another of Bukele's strategies to end the
violence has been negotiation. In September 2020, the newspaper El Faro published this
investigative piece.
(Bukele Has Been Negotiating with MS-13 (A Salvadorean gang) for a Reduction in Homicides
and Electoral Support. ElFaro.net)
This newspaper has presented leaked documents that show details of this negotiation. Both
sides have negotiated privileges for gang members in prison in exchange for a reduction
in murders and support for Bukele in the upcoming elections.
As you can imagine, all this clashes with Bukele's campaign promises that he would never
negotiate with criminals.
And what happened to the newspaper that investigated these negotiations? What happened to El Faro?
Well, they are already under investigation by the government for "possible money laundering".
Bukele has also publicly criticized media critical of his government, such as the Associated
Press.
But I know what many of you are thinking! For the moment, we are only talking about
minor issues. Bukele is neither the first nor the last politician to criticize media
that criticizes him. And you are right. What is starting to be of concern is the following.
(Heavily-armed police and soldiers enter El Salvador parliament. BBC)
I know what you are thinking! Is this a coup d'état in El Salvador? Well, no, nothing
of the sort! It was Nayib Bukele himself who sent the army to the parliament. And why,
you may ask? Very simple: the government wanted to get a loan of $109 million dollars approved
in order to modernize the police.
They wanted to buy helicopters, patrol cars and surveillance equipment. As popular as
Bukele is, he does not have the support of the parliament. Remember that he won a presidential
election. But the parliament was still dominated by the two big traditional parties. So Bukele
sent in the army to intimidate them into approving the loan.
This occurred in February 2020. One year later, in February 2021, El Salvador held parliamentary
elections. And, as you can imagine, the traditional parties were practically left out.
With so much popular support, Bukele has swept the floor. To give you an idea, the Legislative
Assembly of El Salvador has 84 deputies. Well, 64 of them are Bukele's allies and only 20
are from the opposition.
So what has Bukele done with so much power in parliament? Well, listen up.
(El Salvador's parliament sacks the country's top judges. Economist)
I know what a lot of you are thinking! In a country as corrupt as El Salvador, it is
normal that Bukele wants to purge all the judges that were appointed during the previous
governments. And you are right.
But it is also true that this way of doing politics is becoming more and more authoritarian.
Right now Bukele has control of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. So is this
something we should condemn him for? In some respects, no.
No one can argue that Bukele is extremely popular in his country and that he has won
elections. But the concentration of power is always bad news. And that explains why
the US is wary of ending up supporting a would-be tyrant. Check it out.
(U.S. to pull El Salvador funds on 'deep concerns' over recent dismissals (of top judges). Reuters)
So is it a good or a bad decision? The truth is that it is very hard to say. On the one
hand, it is clear that El Salvador needed a drastic change in its politics. It is difficult
to end corruption in a country if all the old elites are against you.
On the other hand, it would not be the first time that a messianic leader emerges in Latin
America who ends up becoming a tyrant.
So now the question is over to you, do you think it is a good thing that the United States
or the European Union put pressure on Nayib Bukele to prevent him from becoming a dictator?
Or maybe some heavy-handedness is needed for a while so that the country can put an end
to crime and corruption? You can leave your answer in the comments.
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