IMAGE CHANGE – CHANGING THE CONVERSATION

As I previously shared, in 2013 I visited family back in ES. When I returned my coworkers asked the usual questions; did you have fun? how is your family? More importantly was it safe and did you feel safe? The question about safety is always a key one, if not the most important one when it comes to travel. I will discuss safety in section number 2. In this section, I will focus on Nayib Bukele and what he has done for the image of El Salvador. I will use a real estate analogy; Bukele has taken the exterior of a house, removed all the old wooden window shutters, removed the old rickety door, upgraded the windows and planted some new flowers and new sod. He has completed an external cosmetic renovation that when passersby’s go walking, they now stop to look and observe the old dilapidated house that once stood there. The appearance is welcoming. The passerby’s now stop and are interested in walking into that home. What Bukele has actually done is implemented Bitcoin as legal tender, made deals to host World Surf competitions, obtained donations from China for a new theme park and pier in La Libertad and most recently donations from China have completed the construction of the largest library in Latin America which is open 24/7 for people to study, visit or simply have a coffee. People do not talk about how dangerous El Salvador is anymore, they don’t talk about the gangs or violence. People now talk about Bitcoin, how safe the country is, surfing, coffee etc. El Salvador is open. Go visit.

SAFETY OF ITS CITIZENS

One of the fundamental responsibilities a Government has is providing safety to its citizens. In March 2022, after a spike in violence served as an inflection point in the safety policies of the country. President Bukele requested that the Legislative Assembly approve a State of Exception across the country. Anyone could be detained for any reason without cause. Who was the army and the police looking for? Gang members. I believe it is important for me to provide context here. Every country has "bad neighbourhoods" and most people would be wise to stay away from such neighbourhoods. In El Salvador, you risked your life if you went out after 630pm when it was dark. The de-facto state of exception had always been in place, with the key difference being that it was implemented by the gangs and not the state. Rampant violence, extortion, shootings, kidnappings, rapes were carried out by ruthless gang members. My people lived in fear, anxiety and never ending sadness because you woke up every day not knowing which of your family members could be murdered, raped, mutilated, decapitated without every recovering the body. At that point, would you want to recover the body? So much fear. So much pain. I was in El Salvador in 2023 for my fathers burial. I am saddened by the fact he is no longer here on this earth to witness firsthand the smiling faces and warmth of our people. That was the most obvious observation I made when I was there in 2023 – you could see the relief and sense of hope in their eyes! Yes there have been innocent casualties during this state of exception, but to that I say – no plan is perfect and I think when you are in Government you have to accept that you will never please everyone. El Salvador went from the most dangerous country in the world to one of the safest in all of the Americas in just less than 2 years! Think about that! In El Salvador, 9 out 10 Salvadorans approve of the state of exception. What I find interesting, is the amount of support the state of exception has in other parts of LATAM!

LACK OF OPPOSITION

As I mentioned in my previous articles and as I have posted on Twitter, the 2024 election was over before it began. The opposition existed on paper only. The Legislative Assembly should be a place to debate ideas and proposals to make conditions better for its citizens. Instead the opposition, consisting of primarily ARENA and FMLN, not only voted against the state of exception several times, they never put forward solutions to the problems facing the country. This was clearly evident in the Presidential campaign period. In 2019, Bukele broke the 2 party dominance once held by ARENA and FMLN and ever since that election, the 2 parties have been on life support. In 2021 Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party won 56 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly dealing another blow to the 2 traditional parties. Ever since then, the decay of the 2 parties has been ongoing and both parties have been sinking at the pace of a ship taking on water! The sheer lack of opposition was incredible, in this 2024 election campaign you had the FMLN candidate stating he had over 300 proposals yet the only thing he would mention on social media (because the party had no money) would be offerings of cow foot soup and capiruchos and gym subsidies so that everyone could stay healthy. Then you had the ARENA candidate who was handpicked from the USA and returned to El Salvador offering cumas. Yes you read that right. Here you had a candidate who came back to the 3rd world from the 1st world and was not offering laptops, or tablets or any technology but an agricultural tool that is typically used by people over the age of 65 who live in the countryside! You cant make this stuff up. It was a joke. Then people wonder why Bukele never had to debate anyone. Bukele put out one video less than a week before the Feb 4th election urging Salvadorans to vote for Nuevas Ideas. The results were more than emphatic. The results were resounding. Salvadorans from all over the world voted and gave the “keys” to Bukele for another 5 years! The results from the Tribunal Supremo Electoral confirm that Bukele received over 2.7 million votes. That amount of votes is more than the combined total votes of all candidates from the 2019 President election! Think about that!

The media has some nerve to say that democracy is at risk in El Salvador – que no jodan!