By Sofia Rojas, 10th Grade
Nayib Bukele is a Salvadorian politician and businessman. He is the actual president of El Salvador, representing the Big Alliance Party. Since taking the presidency, Bukele has faced extreme controversy because his authoritarian measures and the announcement of reelection didn’t surprise the Salvadorian population. After taking office, Bukele has taken full control of the Salvadorian congress. Bukele fired opposing representatives and replaced them with loyalists to his government and ideas. This is why the constitutional court ruled it suitable for Bukele to run for reelection even after the constitution prohibits consecutive reelection.
Although Nayib Bukele had an 84% approval rating at the end of his third term, many human rights organizations are concerned about his potential reelection. Bukele has been responsible for the limitation of the press, the war on gangs, and the constant police brutality in the country. Last year, he started cutting food supply in prisons in response to the increase in gang activity. That same year he warned he would cut all food supply to inmates if gangs continued to be violent. Bukele not only limited the food supply but ordered all inmate mattresses to be seized. Even so, according to the Guardian, “that would mean more people have been arrested in El Salvador in the last two months than in the whole of last year. The population of the country’s already overcrowded prisons would have almost doubled since March while almost 2% of the entire adult population would now find itself behind bars.”
One of the biggest contenders against Bukele’s reelection is the United States. Jean Manes representative of the U.S. embassy in Salvador recently voiced his disapproval by stating the following, “The US condemns the decision taken on September 3 by El Salvador’s Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber.” Jean also proceeded to call the constitutional decision a decline in democracy.
Reelection is a severe matter and Congress should give approval to someone fully appropriate to take the lead. Congress is favoring someone that has been proven to continuously violate human rights. These rights are important for the livelihood of millions of Salvadorians and shouldn’t be taken lightly when voting.
References:
- Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). (n.d.). US slams El Salvador’s presidential reelection decision. DW.COM. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.dw.com/en/us-slams-el-salvadors-presidential-reelection-decision/a-59088499
- Reuters. (2022, September 16). Despite prohibition, El Salvador President Bukele says he will seek re-election. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/despite-prohibition-el-salvador-president-bukele-says-he-will-seek-re-election-2022-09-16/
- Phillips, T. (2022, June 2). El Salvador accused of ‘massive’ human rights violations with 2% of adults in prison. The Guardian. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/02/el-salvador-human-rights-violations-bukele-amnesty
- Amnesty International. (2022, June 6). El Salvador: President Bukele engulfs the country in a human rights crisis after three years in government. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/el-salvador-president-bukele-human-rights-crisis/
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