Recent coverage of El Salvador
The spring of Nayib Bukele’s relationship with Donald Trump -- El Pais. A look at the cozy relationship between Bukele and the Trump administration as illustrated by Marco Rubio's recent visit to El Salvador.
“Bukelismo,” A Deceptive, Illiberal Model of Peace Spreading from El Salvador to the United States -- ReVista. Could Musk and Bukele really team up to administer this form of illiberal governance—known colloquially as “the Bukele Model” or “Bukelismo”—in the United States itself?
How El Salvador became a model for the global far right -- Financial Times. In depth article looks at Bukele's time in office. Do other nations want to embrace his methods of security which have made him a highly popular leader, or are they enabling the country's slide towards autocracy?
Behind El Salvador's prison system that may handle U.S. deported migrants -- CBS News. After Bukele offered to house US inmates in Salvadoran prisons, CBS looks at the prison system. Like most international news reports, it gets distracted by CECOT, the mega-prison built by Bukele, but at least there is more acknowledgment that the system is bigger than just this prison turned media opportunity.
More Prisoners Won’t Bring More Surfers to El Salvador -- The Progressive. "Bukele’s vision of El Salvador as a surfing paradise built on mass incarceration is a mirage. Gleaming beaches and crime crackdowns mask a reality of deep poverty, relentless migration, and a carceral state now desperately seeking to interchangeably fill tourist beds or jail cells. "
El Salvador and the Bukele Anti-Crime Experiment: Is it Working? -- Small Wars Journal. Thoughtful article surrounding the questions: "Do the ends justify the means? Is the Bukele way the only way to stop crime in the Americas? Or couldn’t crime, gangs, and cartels be controlled and minimized without suspending due process and civil rights, and dragging thousands of innocents to jail? What would such a policy look like and how would it be carried out? Is it necessary to brutalize those considered guilty and lock them up in the most horrid conditions which are in fact a form of torture and extreme cruelty? Can these policies be sustained indefinitely?"
More Prisoners Won’t Bring More Surfers to El Salvador -- The Progressive. "Bukele’s vision of El Salvador as a surfing paradise built on mass incarceration is a mirage. Gleaming beaches and crime crackdowns mask a reality of deep poverty, relentless migration, and a carceral state now desperately seeking to interchangeably fill tourist beds or jail cells. "
El Salvador and the Bukele Anti-Crime Experiment: Is it Working? -- Small Wars Journal. Thoughtful article surrounding the questions: "Do the ends justify the means? Is the Bukele way the only way to stop crime in the Americas? Or couldn’t crime, gangs, and cartels be controlled and minimized without suspending due process and civil rights, and dragging thousands of innocents to jail? What would such a policy look like and how would it be carried out? Is it necessary to brutalize those considered guilty and lock them up in the most horrid conditions which are in fact a form of torture and extreme cruelty? Can these policies be sustained indefinitely?"
People As Products: A Human Rights Perspective On The Transfer Of US Prisoners To Salvadoran Jails -- European Journal of International Law Blog. The myriad ways in which Salvadoran prisons violate international human rights norms and how transfer of US prisoners would add even more violations.
Abandoned by the State with No Answers in Sight -- El Faro. Photo essay tell story of Eneida Abarca, who has searched for her missing son since January 2022, with no help from authorities. She continues to search for answers.
El Salvador’s Congress votes to eliminate public campaign financing -- AP. With public campaign financing eliminated, Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party makes it even more difficult for opposition parties to arise and have electoral success.
Faithfuls Cling to “Bitcoin Country” after IMF Deal Nixes Bitcoin -- El Faro English. Bitcoin is no longer legal tender in El Salvador. No one can pay their taxes to the government using the crypto-currency. These reversals of the country's Bitcoin Law occurred as part of a deal to get debt relief financing from the International Monetary Fund. But to true Bitcoin believers, El Salvador is still the promised land.
Comments