El Salvador’s President Bukele is running for re-election today, despite the constitution prohibiting it. A majority of the population doesn’t seem to mind. In any case, the state of emergency has become normal in the country.
A dusty bumpy track leads to Yesenia’s house in a poor neighborhood in La Libertad, not far from the capital San Salvador. The streets used to be controlled by the criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha, but that has changed since the state of emergency.
Yesenia no longer has to pass the checkpoints, the often heavily armed men with tattoos on their faces and shaved heads. She can move freely. “When the state of emergency was declared, we were all happy at first. And my father even called him Uncle Bukele. He celebrated him for his security strategy. Of course he voted for him. Then one day the police came and simply took him away . An innocent man!”
When security forces came to arrest her brother, Yesenia was at home. They were actually looking for a completely different man, but simply took him with them because they had to meet their quota, 30 arrests by 12 p.m.
The state of emergency make it possible
All of this is made possible by the state of emergency, which has now lasted for almost two years and has become normal. People can be held in police custody for up to 15 days without judicial review.
In hearings with hundreds of defendants, judges can decide to send them to pre-trial detention, which can last up to two years, without the need for evidence.
75,000 people have now been arrested. Bukele boasts about this almost every day on the short message service X.
“The coolest dictator in the world”
His critics describe his style of government as authoritarian. Critical journalists and human rights organizations are discredited and denounced. At times, authors and editors from the investigative platform El Faro were intercepted using the Israeli spying software Pegasus, which can only be purchased by governments. For security reasons, the editorial team has moved the entire administration to Costa Rica.
Bukele himself just scoffs at it, sometimes describing himself as the coolest dictator in the world, sometimes as a philosopher king. He has now been in office as president for around five years. Now he is running for election a second time, even though that actually violates the constitution.
According to his interpretation of the legal situation, the 42-year-old circumvented this ban by taking a six-month break. This really bothers only a few people. According to current surveys, Bukele can still rely on more than 80 percent support.
His fans describe him as progressive. He introduced Bitcoin as a currency from one day to the next, even if no one in the country paid with it, and received a lot of international attention for it. A millennial, often in jeans, with a hipster beard and his hair slicked back. Someone who ensures security in the country is finally taking tough action, that’s how his supporters see it.
“There is incredible calm”
A lot has improved in Maria’s district; children could finally play on the streets again. The city administration provided street lighting. “We are experiencing incredible calm. No president has achieved this so far. That’s why I thank God for that and President Bukele,” she says.
Maria’s actual name is different; she prefers to remain unrecognized. A few gang members would still be hanging around her neighborhood.
Thousands of innocent people in prison
There are thousands of innocent people in the country’s prisons, as human rights organizations such as Cristosal document. 218 people died in custody. Many are released malnourished and report torture.
The supposed security has its price. With the state of emergency, civil rights have been curtailed and human rights are being systematically violated. It is mainly Salvadorans from low-income backgrounds, from the country’s slums, who have suffered for decades at the hands of the gangs, who are now innocently ending up in prison.
Died in custody: Sandra Hernandez shows the picture of her husband Jose Dimas Medrano, who was arrested during the state of emergency and died in custody.
Only a few demonstrate
A demonstration will take place in the center of the city on this day. Reyna Maribel Amaya is also among them; around 70 demonstrators have gathered. There are only a few, many are afraid of government repression, she says.
It was May 14, 2022 when her son Jorge Luis was arrested. He worked as a bricklayer during the week and studied English at a private school on the weekends. His dream was to one day work in the USA. In one picture he looks like a confirmation candidate: ironed white shirt, tie, black suit trousers. He beams and holds his English diploma up to the camera.
She cannot visit her son. “My son is sick and the government doesn’t care if the prisoners die in prison. We are not criminals, we don’t deserve this,” she says angrily.
Even if a majority of people say that they feel safer and freer, in the end Bukele’s security strategy is not sustainable, criticizes human rights activist Ruth López from Cristosal. The heads of the gangs in particular are still free. The fundamental problem has not been solved, even if the base is in prison.
A picture distributed by the government in El Salvador: It shows a new prison for gang members.
Extreme poverty has doubled
In the long term, this could damage Bukele’s reputation if at the same time the economic situation for a majority of people does not change. According to the latest statistics in 2022, extreme poverty has even doubled since Bukele took office, says economist Tatiana Marroquín.
Maria, who suffered from gang violence, still lives precariously, but praises the fact that the president has always provided her with food packages, especially during the pandemic. Food packages that Bukele supporters also distribute in the slums shortly before the elections. If you ask, they don’t want to comment.
“The good outweighs the bad”
The curtailment of essential civil and human rights could also affect Maria in the future. Nevertheless, she will vote for Bukele again this time: “As they say, to err is human. He certainly made mistakes too, but the good outweighs the bad. Of course there are innocent people in prison, but without him our country would be what it is now not free from criminals.”
Reyna Maribel Amaya will be among the few who will vote for the opposition to make a statement. She knows that the president will be re-elected with an overwhelming majority. “What’s so sad is that the gangs used to tyrannize us, but now we have to be afraid of the state above all else.” Every day she hopes that her son will finally be released.
Anne Demmer, ARD Mexico City, tagesschau, February 2nd, 2024 5:58 p.m