Re-election, complaints about human rights violations and decrease in violence mark the 4th anniversary of Bukele in El Salvador

Nayib Bukele celebrates four years in the presidential chair of El Salvador this June 1: in the last year, his mandate has been characterized by an affront against gangs that has reduced the levels of violence. The government and many Salvadorans maintain that the exception regime in which the Central American country remains has made it possible to dismantle the gangs; Others point to serious human rights violations in this period.

The president continues to be seen out of the corner of his eye by the international community, who has branded him as authoritarian. However, in El Salvador, Bukele’s popularity is offset by his high support in public opinion polls.

Bukele entered the Executive power in June 2019 after having won the presidential election against the traditional parties ARENA and FMLN. In 2021, the victory of his party Nuevas Ideas, in the Parliamentary electionallowed him to have a comfortable majority in Congress, with which the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the attorney general were dismissed.

Under this political map, the Salvadoran leader has managed to make his government projects a reality, some with notable success, such as the control of territories previously dominated by gangs, and others with failures, such as the adoption of Bitcoin in a country that is still refuses to adopt it.

The most popular measure adopted by the government has been the approval of an emergency regime that has achieved disarticulate to the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, thus lowering the homicide rate to 7.8 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. According to an opinion poll by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) published at the end of March 2023 8 out of 10 Salvadorans approve of Bukele’s management in El Salvador. While the exception regime has an approval rating of 7.9.

“Without a doubt, the main pillar that supports the popularity and good image not only of the president of the republic but practically of all public institutions is the emergency regime. (…) But it is surprising that 75% (of the who expressed their opinion) does not know the rights that this state of emergency suspends and those who know those rights the least are the ones who best qualify the regime of exception”, explained Omar Serrano, vice-rector for Social Projection of the polling university.

The emergency regime, which Bukele has publicized as the “War against gangs”, began on March 27, 2022 and has left at least 68,000 people captured by illegal groups in maras or gangs. At least 5,000 have been released for not proving the crime. The rest remain in various prisons in the country, including the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), the new mega-prison for 40,000 inmates inaugurated this year.

Prior to the anniversary of Bukele’s mandate, the Security Cabinet has maintained the emergency regime as a “offensive” against remnants of gangs, thereby capturing several gang members who were still hiding in some communities in the country.

“The Salvadoran population is now witnessing that perceptions of public security have been quite positive and the security that Salvadorans themselves are demanding is a reality,” said the director of the Salvadoran Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, on May 29. , when the operation was launched.

But the price for the desired security in El Salvador has been, in the last year, at least 3,491 people violated in their rights. Most for arbitrary arrests and illegal home invasion, according to a report by the San Salvador-based human rights organization Cristosal published on May 29.

In this report, the organization ensures that at least 153 people detained during the exception regime died in the custody of the state. None had been found guilty of the crime they were accused of when they were arrested.

Bukele has reiterated his criticism of those who criticize his policies against padilleros and has expressed: “The human rights of honest people are more important than those of criminals.”

In mid-May, Bukele launched a message against human rights organizations and the international community, in the context of the murder of a policeman allegedly by a gang member.

“Let all the human rights NGOs know that we are going to wipe out these damn murderers and their collaborators, we will put them in prison and they will never get out. We do not care about their pitiful reports, their prepaid journalists, their puppet politicians, or their famous community international, who never cared about our people,” Bukele said in Twitter.

Re-election at the gates

El Salvador will hold the presidential and legislative elections in 2024. And Bukele, who only has one year left in his term, announced that he will run for office. presidential reelection with the permission of the new Supreme Court of Justice and popular support, despite the fact that re-election is prohibited in the Salvadoran Constitution.

“Immediate re-election is not possible according to the Constitution, but the magistrates elected by their deputies reinterpreted a sentence and paved the way for the president. The legal thing is that if he (Bukele) wants to be president again, he must wait 10 years, but already He said he will not do it. Of course, the emergency regime has made him so popular that people will ignore that his re-election is unconstitutional,” he told the voice of americathe lawyer Alejandro González.

Bukele’s decision to continue leading the government has made some civil society organizations and political parties think about presenting a single candidacy that seeks to confront the president’s influence in the elections. However, there is still no consensus.

“Whether this is going to be translated into a single presidential formula, I don’t know. I think it will depend on the internal processes that all the political parties are having. At least Nuestro Tiempo has the doors open to vigil society organizations to see if we get according to a citizen presidential formula,” Andy Failer, president of the Nuestro Tiempo political party, explained to the media.

The initiative is known as “Sumar por El Salvador”, which was created by civil organizations and foundations after Bukele’s attempted coup against the previous Congress in February 2020. The initiative has already announced its support for a presidential formula .

Meanwhile, Bukele maintains the favor of the population by betting on outstanding measures such as security in the country. Lowering the volume of an economic decision such as Bitcoin, which, despite the fact that it is law, cannot adapt to the way Salvadorans pay.

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