The public agenda of El Salvador was marked by several significant events that occurred in different areas:
Presidential re-election
In February 2024 it was the re-election of President Nayib Bukelewhose figure has continued to be dominant in the Salvadoran political scene. The president won the presidential elections with a large majority, and his legislative bench won 90% of the Salvadoran Congress.
Despite allegations that his candidacy contravened the Salvadoran Constitution, which prohibits immediate re-election, Bukele won with 84% support.
While his followers celebrated the continuity of his government, another group showed concern for the future of the rule of law in El Salvador.
Advances in security
This year, El Salvador continued to implement its most aggressive policy to combat insecurity: the exception regimein force since March 2022 and with which more than 80,000 people have been arrested.
According to the Salvadoran government, the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs have lost a large part of their operational structure in the neighborhoods, and thousands of their members and collaborators are now in prison.
As a consequence, the country has one of the lowest homicide rates in the region. However, it has also received criticism for human rights violationsincluding mass arrests and deaths in state custody.
Politics did not stop despite the death, in a plane crash, of the police director, Mauricio Arriaza, and other heads of the institution.
Agreement with the IMF
Also, in mid-December, El Salvador achieved asane with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after more than three years negotiating access to financing for more than 1.4 billion dollars.
In exchange, the Salvadoran government agreed to remove the mandatory use of bitcoin in the private sphere and reduce its use in the public sphere.
Economic measures
In mid-2024, the basic food basket in El Salvador reached a historic price of $262.17, which meant an increase of $5.61 compared to 2023.
This affected the economy of Salvadoran households, since the minimum monthly wage in this country is around $365 and has not increased since 2021.
Faced with food inflation, the government opened 50 agricultural markets to offer food at lower prices. It also focused its efforts on other measures to alleviate the cost of living, such as eliminate taxes on 160 products from the basic basketincluding basic grains, vegetables and meats, for a period of 10 years.
Metal mining
Likewise, in the country the debate has been fueled after the approval in Congress of a controversial law that allows metal mining in the country after seven years of prohibition
The proposal was raised by President Bukele, who assures that the activity will transform El Salvador and generate wealth and “thousands of quality jobs,” but it has unleashed a wave of criticism due to the environmental risks.
According to researchers, environmentalists and religious people, gold exploitation is a large-scale extractive industry, which requires large territorial spaces.
The territorial area of El Salvador is 21,040 square kilometers, and it is already highly populated.
Furthermore, due to its geographical location, El Salvador has high seismicity, which endangers the activation of seismic faults.
Cybersecurity laws
This year, the Salvadoran government also promoted new cybersecurity and data protection lawswhich have generated concern among human rights organizations that point to possible restrictions on freedom of expression and the press in the following years.
According to organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the Cybersecurity and Information Security Law and the Law for the Protection of Personal Data can be used to silence journalists and members of civil organizations.
In September 2024, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted a “enormous” concealment of information and obstacles that the media face when accessing public data, which makes their informative work difficult
New infrastructure
El Salvador continued to prioritize the development of its infrastructure with new projects such as the Pacific Airporta work that is under construction in eastern El Salvador, and whose purpose is to attract more tourism to the area.
Likewise, studies are underway for the Pacific Train, a project that is expected to reactivate the train network in the Central American country. Since 1990 there has been no active passenger or freight train network.
Also, with the support of Chinese cooperation, the Bukele government plans to complete a new stadium by 2026, with capacity for 50,000 spectators. The project has a budget of more than 100 million dollars.
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