Nayib Bukele, 42, assumed the presidency of El Salvador for the second time on Saturday, in a scenario where he controls the majority of the Salvadoran Congress and his popularity is increasingly high.
In a ceremony in Congress and in the presence of several foreign leaders, Bukele placed his left hand on the Bible held by his wife Gabriela and swore to uphold the laws of the nation. He was then given the presidential sash.
The inauguration ceremony, which took place in the National Palace, was attended by King Felipe VI of Spain, the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei, of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves; the Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Alejandro Mayorkas and Donald Trump Jr, son of the US presidential candidate Donald Trump, among others.
From the early hours of this June 1, hundreds of Salvadorans came to the square where the National Palace is located to witness Bukele’s inauguration.
One of them is José Emilio Bautista, a Salvadoran resident in the east of the country, who had been in San Salvador for three days waiting for the event. “Now we live in better times, we can walk freely,” he says.
That same idea is shared by Mauricio Hernández, a Salvadoran who describes the horror in which El Salvador lived before the emergency regime. “It was like we were prisoners, we couldn’t get out, we couldn’t walk freely,” he explains.
In El Salvador, the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 operated, two dangerous gangs that subjugated the residents for years.
While some praise the reduction in the homicide rate, others hope for a better economic climate in the future in a country where the minimum wage is approximately $365.
Considered the most popular president in Latin America, according to the NGO Latinobarómetro, Bukele came to power in 2019 after weakening the traditional right-wing ARENA and the left-wing party that brought him into FMLN politics.
Under his government, one of the strongest heavy-handed strategies against gangs was carried out, an exceptional regime that managed to dismantle the structures in the territory and reduce the homicide rate from 38 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019 to 2.4. in 2023.
But not everything in the Bukele period has been applause. The opposition accuses him of assuming a second term unconstitutionally, since the Magna Carta of the Central American country prohibits continuous presidential re-election.
At the beginning of February, Bukele swept the presidential election with 84.6% of the votes, despite the claims of his opponents and some members of the international community who denounced the elections, asserting that the country’s Constitution prohibits immediate re-election.
The Supreme Court of Justice, packed with judges selected by Bukele’s allies in Congress, had ruled in 2021 that Bukele could seek his second term.
This is the second time in 84 years that a president has been re-elected in El Salvador.
The US congratulates President Bukele
The United States congratulated El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on his inauguration Saturday for a second term.
“We are willing to deepen our ties with El Salvador and work together within the framework of the Administration’s Root Causes Strategy on good governance, citizen security with due process, inclusive economic prosperity and human rights,” indicated the Department of State in a statement.
He adds that “We hope to continue collaborating in the coming years to build a brighter future for all Salvadorans.”
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