The Strongman's Military

 In countries like El Salvador, where values of an
 authoritarian culture still prevail, these campaigns
 that praise the virtues of the military,
 making them look like heroes and saviors
 capable of solving the problems that civilians cannot solve,
further foster an authoritarian culture. -- Jeannette Aguilar


Sunday, September 15, was Independence Day in El Salvador.   On Sunday, school students filled streets across the country marching in civic parades, the national anthem was sung, and San Salvador saw the large annual parade which during Nayib Bukele’s presidency has been a celebration of the police and military security forces.

On Sunday night, the president gave his Independence Day discourse to the nation in the form of an address to the 18,000 soldiers on the military parade grounds before him.   All the imagery of the broadcast speech revolved around the Salvadoran military and police and their president, their Commander General.


The troops stood motionless at attention for almost an hour as the president spoke and video camera-carrying drones buzzed overhead.   He called the military and police forces of the country “the pillars on which we are building a new El Salvador."  He praised them for being part of a project guided by their God, and that they were the true heroes responsible for El Salvador being safe and secure.   

Throughout the national broadcast, the cameras regularly cut to views of the ranks of soldiers, carrying their weapons and often wearing specialized gear.


(After praising the troops and paying homage to the leaders who perished in the recent helicopter crash, Bukele's speech boiled down to telling Salvadorans (a) don't be self-centered,  (b) have patience because progress takes time, and (c) I will present a balanced budget to the legislature on September 30).

In addition to the military parade and Bukele's address before the assembled troops, on Sunday there was the announcement of a new plaza in the greater San Salvador area dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Salvadoran armed forces.

The exaltation of the armed forces is nothing new during Bukele's time in office. Since Nayib Bukele assumed the presidency in 2019, he has worked assiduously to ensure that he has a military highly loyal to him. He has elevated their standing within the country, giving them more and more domestic security functions. In July 2021, Bukele announced plans to double the size of the armed forces with the addition of 20,000 soldiers. This chart, published by GatoEncerrado, and using government data, shows the dramatic growth in the military budget under Bukele through 2022.



And the military has gone on a spending spree for armored vehicles, new weapons and body armor, all celebrated by Bukele and the government’s social media image machine.

The Salvadoran military has responded to Bukele's support with assurances of its loyalty to the president. An early prime example of this occurred in February 2020, when Bukele was demanding the Legislative Assembly come into session to approve a $109 million loan to modernize equipment for the military and police. As the tensions with the Assembly mounted on February 8, the military issued public statements proclaiming their loyalty to Bukele.  The Salvadoran armed forces twitter account sent out photos of the troops saluting Bukele:

All our troops have sworn allegiance to the
President of the Republic and Commander General of the Armed Forces
and we will always be attentive to his orders


The next day, February 9, 2020. Bukele marched into the chambers of the Legislative Assembly accompanied by the armed troops. The military had made it clear to which branch of government it was loyal.

When Bukele took office for a second (unconstitutional) term this June, his military was there to salute him with an artillery salute and military parade.



Every day of the week, the Salvadoran Armed Forces and Ministry of Defense social media accounts publish multiple images on social media of soldiers on duty throughout the country -- riding on the buses, patrolling beaches, walking through marketplaces, engaging in mosquito fumigation campaigns, and more.  These are images designed to make it seem normal to have heavily armed troops present at every turn in the country.   

I recently came across a 2023 paper by public security researcher Jeannette Aguilar titled Post-conflict Remilitarization and Militarism in El Salvador, a chapter in Remilitarization in Central America: A Comparative and Regional Analysis, October 2023, IBI Consultants.   Aguilar looks at the role of the Salvadoran military in civic and political life in El Salvador since the end of the civil war in 1992.   

The praise and elevation of the military is part and parcel of Bukele's authoritarian populism in the country.  Aguilar quotes researcher Otto Argueta of HBS:   

There is a fundamental political element, and that is that, in our countries, there is no better ally for an illegitimate government than the military; if you have military support, the military is going to obey the orders, even political orders. And this is not an ideological issue; that is very important. Now we realize this administration's military is not the military of old that had a perfectly defined ideological estate; these soldiers for this administration and their ideological loyalties are quite flexible. Therefore, they are going to adapt to a president and a government that protects their advantages and prerogatives and one that does not endanger the sustainability of the institution.

According to Aguilar, the lauding of the military by Bukele, as exemplified by his speech to the nation Sunday night, plays an important role in the citizens' willingness to forego their constitutional guarantees of justice and due process during the ongoing State of Exception: 

[T]he government uses the state of exception to praise the heroic work of the military members, providing them with all kinds of financial and political support. Here, the military has become both a political instrument and the main component of the communication and publicity strategy of the state of exception, which despite being atrocious and dehumanizing, continues to have the support of important portions of the population.

Bukele's photo on the cover of TIME magazine recently was captioned "The Strongman."   Through his words and actions, Bukele polishes that image by identifying with his military, and having them identify with him.  For each, the benefit is power with little constraint from other institutions of Salvadoran government or society.

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