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https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/03/americas/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-election-preview-intl/index.html
In El Salvador, self-styled ‘world’s coolest dictator’ Nayib Bukele heads for re-election amid human rights concerns
Bukele’s true ascent to the pinnacle would take a leap after being expelled by his party in 2017 and becoming an outsider. As such, he won the 2019 elections on his first try, with a pledge to rid the country of corruption and graft.
The then-37-year-old swiftly gained a reputation as a disruptor and innovator.
But above all, it is Bukele’s ironfisted crackdown on criminal gangs that has fueled his popularity both domestically and across Latin America, making him the runaway favorite this Sunday.
In March 2022, an outbreak of gang violence that killed 62 people in a single day had left Bukele facing the bloodiest crisis of his presidency. He responded by introducing emergency powers he said would deal with the gangs once and for all. Last year, a Justice Department investigation unsealed in a court in New York stated that Bukele was secretly negotiating a truce with the same gangs he was claiming to fight, but the state of emergency was not revoked. Bukele has denied negotiating with the gangs.
El Salvador has arrested 2% of its adult population in its war on gangs. Constitutional guarantees were suspended, allowing the police to detain a person without charge for up to 15 days and tap anyone’s phone without a judicial order; the Army was deployed; and the number of detentions rocketed.
By early 2023, Bukele’s government had built a sprawling penitentiary complex with capacity for up to 40,000 inmates dubbed “Center for the Confinement of Terrorists.”
Critics accuse Bukele of recklessly committing large-scale human rights abuses in his fight against the gangs, and of dismantling the country’s checks and balances by attacking El Salvador’s legislative and judicial powers.
Nearly two years after the March killings, El Salvador’s state of emergency and restriction on civil liberties remain in place following multiple renewals approved monthly by Congress.
Even more people are now in prison; over 75,000 as of January. So, while El Salvador no longer faces record murder rates, it now boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world.
In between, Bukele also managed to increase his control of state institutions that are meant to be independent from the presidency and check its power. In January 2020, he famously entered Congress surrounded by fully armed soldiers to press the lawmakers to allow an emergency loan to purchase new armaments.
A year later – following his party New Ideas’ absolute majority in the legislative elections – the new Congress loyal to Bukele dismissed El Salvador’s Supreme Court judges, as well as the attorney general who had resisted some of his early reforms.
Human rights advocates across the region fear Bukele’s popularity could lead other leaders to emulate his methods.
In at least 13 countries in Latin America, most of the population “wouldn’t mind an undemocratic government rising to power if it resolved problems,” according to a 2023 poll by Latinobarometro.
With Putin being popular among right-wingers and Trump openly stating he'll be a dictator "for one day", it seems "dictator" is losing it's stigma. Kind of like how gangsters are now seen as cool instead of rotten criminals.
This is an interesting time where people are freely and happily supporting people *because* they're dictators.
The world is moving backwards.
@vivify
Well not everywhere, the dictator thing was defeated in Poland recently so there is some hope. Here in the US, I think women will save our sorry asses because of the death of Roe V Wade and the ultrarightwingnut states trying to make it not only TOTALLY illegal for ANY reason but to make it a crime to leave the state, like Texas who wants to run down a woman who goes to a state allowing abortion, she is now a criminal for crossing state lines.
THAT kind of thing is what dictatorship is all about. First thing they go after is control of women.
@vivify saidGangsters and dictators have always had the "bad boy" cool factor. Snoop Dogg the Crip has been cool since the 90's. Outlaw Bikers have been cool since the 50's. The Italian American Cosa Nostra has been considered cool since the 20's.
With Putin being popular among right-wingers and Trump openly stating he'll be a dictator "for one day", it seems "dictator" is losing it's stigma. Kind of like how gangsters are now seen as cool instead of rotten criminals.
This is an interesting time where people are freely and happily supporting people *because* they're dictators.
The world is moving backwards.
@athousandyoung saidOutlaws, gang members and the Mafia, yes.
Gangsters and dictators have always had the "bad boy" cool factor. Snoop Dogg the Crip has been cool since the 90's. Outlaw Bikers have been cool since the 50's. The Italian American Cosa Nostra has been considered cool since the 20's.
I can't remember a time before now when dictators were "cool".
@vivify saidDepends what you mean by "cool" I guess.
Outlaws, gang members and the Mafia, yes.
I can't remember a time before now when dictators were "cool".
@shavixmir saidSounds like local council bureauRats
squeezing money out of hard working shop owners?
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@shavixmir saidYou do see the similarities though shatmixer, a council bureaurat visits "local hard working shop owners" suggests to the shop owners they might like to 'ahem' choose *nudge, wink, chuckle* to give the council money and in return some very, very unfortunate affair concerning their business may be averted.
Sounds like a rabid incel.
The "local hard working shop owners" are purchasing protection from the council for protection from what the council might do.
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@shavixmir saidI said Italian American Cosa Nostra for a reason. I wasn't talking about the Sicilian Mafia.
The nazis, say what you want about them, did dress rather snappy.
But, simce when was the maffia bloody cool?
Italian hardmen squeezing money out of hard working shop owners? Nasty, wife beating, goons.
Lou Reed, Jason Statham and Bill Murray are cool.