Latin America
Related: About this forumEl Salvador Braces for Five More Years of the World's Self-Proclaimed "Coolest Dictator"
JUNE 7, 2024
BY MANUEL PEREZ-ROCHA
Earlier this year, El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele won reelection by a wide margin. His Nuevas Ideas party also won 54 of the 60 seats in the Legislative Assembly and the vast majority of the countrys mayorships. His power is now almost absolute. But the elections were marred by a large number of irregularities documented by the Organization of American States, damaging Bukeles international reputation. Could it be a sign of troubles to come?
Bukele officially began his second five-year term on June 1. Hes probably the most popular president in Latin America due to his success in quelling gang violence in the country.
But the fact that he broke El Salvadors constitution to allow himself a second term, along with the large number of human rights violations and lack of transparency during his state of exception, is leading to international criticism. The Canadian government, for example, refrained from congratulating Bukele after the election. And Bukeles government remains unable to attract the foreign investment it craves.
Approximately 80,000 people have been detained under Bukeles state of emergency since March 2022. Estimates for how many of those people are innocent range from 30 to 70 percent.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/07/el-salvador-braces-for-five-more-years-of-the-worlds-self-proclaimed-coolest-dictator/
Marcus IM
(3,001 posts)That the US puts extraterritorial sanctions on Cuba and not El Salvador speaks volumes about the US's LatAm policy.
Judi Lynn
(162,376 posts)maybe while he was even just thinking about it! It has been that way from the first.
If they had any actual reason to think Cuba had done something like he does every day, they would have been stomping all over the island, just as they did while they were "helping" Cuba obtain its freedom from Spain, after which they set up their succession of puppets which continued until the 2nd revolution, which allowed the people to demand their independence, for which they've paid wildly every day since.
Wow!
They love him as much as they did the Brazilian, Argentinian, Chilean, Peruvian, Paraguayan, Venezuelan, Mexican, etc., etc. brutal, bloodthirsty, greedy, dirty dictators!
You couldn't even pay people to slow down and start sorting out the truth from the lies regarding the Americas and US policy, they simply don't care. They seem to all be MAGATs when it comes to Latin America!