President Nayib Bukele's Re-election in El Salvador: An Analysis

1. CQ Press Lecture Spark FEBRUARY 5, 2024 Connecting current events to your International Relations classroom

2. El Salvador’s President Bukele Re- elected On Sunday, February 4thvoters in the Central American country of El Salvador participated in elections. Preliminary results indicate that President Nayib Bukele won re-election with 83% of the votes. In addition, President Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party is expected to hold a majority of the 60 seats in the National Assembly. The 42-year-old former mayor of the capital, San Salvador is popular both at home and abroad. According to polls President Bukele is Latin America’s most popular leader. As a result of his landslide victory thousands of his supporters celebrated outside the National Palace. What happened in El Salvador? 2

3. El Salvador’s President Bukele Re- elected President Bukele was first elected in 2019 under the premise that he would fight crime and improve the economy. Under his leadership El Salvador has become safer albeit at a cost. The country has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world and an estimated 2 percent of the adult population is locked up. While the number of homicides has been drastically reduced to 7.8 per every 100,000 people -the lowest in the region -it has also meant the country of 6.3 million has had to suspend civil liberties. More than 75,000 Salvadorans have been arrested and not charged. Critics argue that the government’s crime fighting measures aren’t sustainable. President Bukele was first elected under the premise that he would address which issues? 3

4. Background and Key Concepts • Recently, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was re-elected in a landslide. There are many challenges that face El Salvador, one of which includes the economy. Over a quarter of the population lives in poverty and the country has had the slowest growing economy in Central America over the last five years, which coincides with Mr. Bukele first taking power. • El Salvador was ravaged by gang violence and was widely considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world prior to the Bukele administration. Some 120,000 civilians had lost their lives due to gang violence in the three decades that proceeded the election of President Bukele in 2019. While around 80 percent of the country was controlled by criminal organizations. • Since 2022 the country has been operating under a state of emergency, which in turn has given the government additional tools to combat criminal activity. Opponents of President Bukele’s law and order approach fear that the country is sacrificing rights for security. • There are also concerns that El Salvador under President Bukele is backsliding on democracy. The self- proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator” has consolidated power at the expense of the legislature, judiciary, and attorney general. 4

5. Assessment Writing: What is the significance of President Bukele’s reelection? Debate:What is the best approach to address gang violence in El Salvador? Poll: What is the most pressing issue confronting El Salvador? Short Answer:What are the ramifications if President Bukele becomes a dictator? 5