Watching Bukele


Nayib Bukele spent the second half of September on foreign travel.  He sought to portray himself as having something important to say to the rest of world.     

For Bukele, these travels were all about showing to the Salvadoran public that he is a leader of world stature. Three different national broadcasts in El Salvador highlighted the travels of the president. There he was meeting with the world's richest man, speaking at the UN general Assembly and lecturing the wealthy countries of the world, and being given all the honors of a state visit in Argentina with fellow populist leader Javier Milei. Were there any tangible benefits to El Salvador out of this trip? No, not really. But for the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator" and "philosopher king" it was a chance to further enhance his image to his adoring public in El Salvador, around Latin America, and in the circles of Bitcoin true-believers.




Bukele started his travels with a meeting with billionaire Elon Musk. The tech entrepreneur has recently been promoting the re-election of Donald Trump, while spinning antisemitic and xenophobic conspiracy theories on X, formerly Twitter, which Musk owns. Bukele went to Musk's Tesla offices in Texas to discuss artificial intelligence and other topics, after which the pair piled on the mutual praise. 

Following his meeting with Musk, Bukele traveled to New York to give the annual speech as part of the United Nations General Assembly. There the Salvadoran president proclaimed his country's success in improving public security, while lecturing the wealthy countries of the world stating that “in some cities in the so-called first world, stores need to secure their products behind glass doors with keys to prevent theft” and “in other cities, the streets no longer belong to the people but have fallen into the hands of the homeless, gangs, organized crime and drugs.”   

Bukele stated ​​​​​​​"You cannot claim to be a free world if your people are not even free to walk the streets without fear of being harassed, robbed or killed."   Instead Bukele asserted that the world should look to El Salvador as a vision of an ark against a dark rising tide, or a refuge for the future.
 


Bukele claimed before the world's diplomats:
In El Salvador, we do not jail our opposition. We do not censor opinions. We do not confiscate the property of those who think differently. We do not arrest people for expressing their ideas. In El Salvador, your freedom of expression, as well as your private property, will always be protected. In El Salvador, we prioritize the safety of our innocent citizens over the comfort of criminals. Some say we have imprisoned thousands, but the reality is that we have freed millions.

Back in El Salvador, critics of Bukele had a much different view.

On the sidelines of the General Assembly Bukele met privately with corporate investors at AS/COA to encourage investment in El Salvador: 


Bukele next made a state visit to Argentina at the invitation of another populist president, Javier Milei. For Milei, presiding over a country where the poverty rate has recently climbed to 53%, having Latin America's most popular leader come on a visit was an  opportunity to share some of that spotlight.



Observers have commented on the alliance between the two leaders -- although they have different economic philosophies, both are populists who make  extensive use of social media to position themselves as the corrective to traditional institutions of power in their respective countries. Earlier this year, the English language edition of El Pais described The populist threat: How Bukele and Milei undermine democratic progress in Latin America.  An opinion piece in the Buenos Aires Times on the occasion of Bukele's state visit described The real Nayib Bukele – and his relationship with President Javier Milei 

The visit of Bukele to Argentina was reported on by the Buenos Aires Herald:
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele met with President Javier Milei on Monday at the Casa Rosada, with both facing criticism for human rights violations by international organizations. 

Although this is Bukele’s first visit to Argentina, the two presidents have forged strong bilateral ties. The Milei administration has often shown admiration for the Salvadoran president’s strongman approach to fighting crime, often cited as the source of his electoral popularity but garnering international condemnation as arbitrary detentions number in the thousands.

“It will be a very good meeting, Milei and I are friends. We’re going to talk about energy, trade, and security,” said Bukele before heading to the Casa Rosada, according to C5N. There, he was welcomed by a military band before being escorted to the president’s private office.
According to the Salvadoran government website "Invest in El Salvador" the Salvadoran delegation with Bukele signed a handful of minor agreements with Argentina for such things as cultural exchange, training nuclear energy staff, and establishing air travel links among the countries.       

The Salvadoran government's social media feeds, however, highlighted none of those minor agreements. Instead government social media focused on Bukele being greeted with great pomp and circumstance. For Bukele, the package for popular consumption needed to be the images of the crowds cheering his name in Argentina, the pomp and circumstance of honor guards to greet him, and the reception by the heads of all the branches of Argentina's government. High officials in Argentina just became the latest unpaid participants in the Nayib Bukele image show. 

The real fruit of this state visit to Argentina was not those minor agreements, but this video:



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