What others are saying

Sharing a collection of articles in the English language press from the past month regarding El Salvador, the elections, and the State of Exception.

 How El Salvador’s Iron-Fist Regime Is Quashing Environmental Resistance -- A year ago, President Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian government detained five water defenders who orchestrated the nation’s historic mining ban. Activists fear that’s just the beginning. (Atmos, Jan. 24, 2024)

Organized Crime Ranked Top Political Risk in Critical LatAm Election Year -- In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele looks all but certain to win re-election. His first term has been defined by his tough-on-crime security measures, which started with a state of exception declared in March 2022 following a spate of gang killings. (Insight Crime, Jan. 24, 2024)

How El Salvador's 2024 Presidential Election Could Play Out -- Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele will likely win reelection in February, after which he will seek to consolidate political power even more. He will also seek to make El Salvador a tech hub, but his efforts to boost the economy could fail amid rising authoritarianism, corruption, limited numbers of skilled workers and other challenges. (Stratfor, Jan. 24, 2024)

Some of the dozens of photos being posted by Salvadoran 
armed forces to social media today with a message of the
army as the protector of the people.

How Nayib Bukele is breaking presidential term limits in El Salvador -- He is the first person to run for re-election since Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, a military dictator, did in 1939. How is Mr Bukele subverting term limits, and will he succeed?  Some of his stratagems are blatantly illegal. (The Economist, Dec. 6, 2023).  

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele takes his presidential reelection campaign beyond the country’s borders -- El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele took his presidential reelection campaign beyond his tiny country’s borders this week to capitalize on his rising profile across Latin America, and he affirmed that he doesn’t aspire to indefinite reelection. (AP, Jan. 4, 2024).

Last Salvadoran woman imprisoned over baby's death calls for change -- The last woman imprisoned in El Salvador on charges linked to abortion on Wednesday called for people in the Central American country to stop denouncing women who suffer obstetric emergencies, in her first public comments since her release. El Salvador has one of the most draconian abortion bans in the Americas, which critics say extends to women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths. Many women have been sentenced to decades in prison on charges of killing their children. (Reuters, Jan. 18, 2024).

And to watch or listen to:

Online Reach and Expat Votes in El Salvador's Election (podcast) -- With steps taken to make voting abroad easier, and in the first three days of the one-month period voters could cast ballots, 10 times as many citizens abroad have voted than did in the last presidential contest in 2019. “This is something the Bukele government has put in place because they have support from the diaspora,” says Paarlberg, explaining why Bukele’s portrayal of the security situation specifically resonates with those who fled the country. (AS-COA, Jan 25, 2024)

How Bukele Broke The Gangs (YouTube video) -- A 20 minute documentary from El Faro on the history of the gangs in El Salvador and the measures Nayib Bukele took to dismantle their control in the country.  (El Faro, Jan. 24, 2024).