How Nayib Bukele Got That Dictator Swag
Nayib Bukele's re-election isn't just about him, it's about a society desperate for a savior. Democracy takes a backseat when gangs run the streets and politicians line their pockets.
Every so often, it's not just the outfit that makes the dictator, it's the circumstances too. So says Eva Orduña Trujillo, a specialist from UNAM's Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean. She argues that Nayib Bukele's landslide re-election victory in El Salvador isn't just about that oh-so-trendy backwards baseball cap; it's a result of a perfect storm of dodgy politicians, social angst, and a democracy about as solid as a wet tortilla.
Let's unpack that, shall we? El Salvador is a country riddled with “cancerous” youth gangs, explains Orduña Trujillo. This made life unbearable for citizens, a situation Bukele vowed to solve. Like moths to the populist flame, people flocked to the self-styled savior for protection, even as El Salvador's flimsy democracy and Constitution got thrown under the bus in the process.
“It's the classic dictator's manual,” adds doctoral student Jorge Arturo González Ruíz. “Crisis? Check. Promises of greatness? Check. Demonization of 'the elite?' Double check!” It's that familiar mix of charisma and ruthless laws that make his re-election possible.
But let's not forget the role of a broken system. As student Salvador Recinos observes, Bukele and his crew might be dismantling democracy, but it wasn't exactly Buckingham Palace to begin with. El Salvador's been operating under a flawed constitution since 1983, making the slide into one-party rule that much smoother.
And what's Bukele's ideology? It's neoliberal to the core, even if he didn't have to do much privatizing because, let's be real, everything was already sold off anyway. That, and a series of electoral reforms in 2021 that ensured election day would be a piece of cake…or an overstuffed pupusa, in this case.
So, what's El Salvador in for? “Nationalbukelism,” perhaps! An era where one man and his posse control the show. Whether it'll be a comedy or a horror flick, well, we'll all just have to grab some popcorn and find out.
