Who is El Salvador's tech-savvy crypto-friendly 39-yr-old President Nayib Bukele?

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele became an overnight international sensation last week after he announced that his country would adopt Bitcoin as the legal tender and currency, making it not only the first Central American nation to do so but possibly also the world. It's seen as a fitting move for the 39-year-old who is adored by Gen Z kids for his eccentricities. 

Who is Nayib Bukele?

El Salvador's 46th President Nayib Bukele dropped out of law school and spent his 20s managing nightclubs across the country. He then worked with advertising firms before becoming the Mayor of a small city, and shortly after the Mayor of San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city.

Is El Salvador a Democracy or Dictatorship?

Two parties, led by former guerilla groups dominated politics in El Salvador since the late 80s, when a civil war broke out, orchestrated by communist guerrillas and the US-backed military in El Salvador. The country has seen little to no development since and has faired poorly, with rampant corruption and gang violence that has left it further behind compared to its neighbours in the region. It is also notorious for being one of the most dangerous and violent countries in the Americas.

How did Nayib Bukele become El Salvador President?

Bukele is admired in his country for having broken the two-party system in 2019 and sweeping the elections with his own new third party. He ran on a popular campaign that blasted politicians as corrupt and promised to crack down on gang warfare. To his credit, under Bukele, local criminal records state that El Salvador's crime has plummeted. According to a report released in 2020, the murder rate has reportedly dropped by a massive 60 per cent since 2018, after he took office.

Although he has publicly claimed that it was due to his good governance he achieved this feat, some people believe that he had brokered a deal between gangs that allow them to continue operating their illegal activities, without indulging in violence.

How is El Salvador managing the COVID pandemic?

Bukele government has earned praise for its vaccination campaign and has been among Central America's best region with over 18 per cent of its 65 lakh population already being vaccinated; to give a sense of the enormous difference, El Salvador's neighbours such as Guatemala have so far only vaccinated a mere 2.7 per cent.

Bukele's pandemic policies-including $300 cash payments and frequent free food delivery campaigns have won widespread support from the masses. Bukele's lockdown policies were regarded among the world's harshest, and he notoriously ignored the Supreme Court's suggestion which asked him to stop the implementation of the lockdown. However, his unconventional political tactics have routinely earned him opponents abroad.

Nayib Bukele's relations with global leaders

On a recent visit to Washington DC, President Biden denied an audience with Bukele because of the 39-year-old's threatening stunts in the parliament, where he took armed soldiers into the legislature hall to intimidate lawmakers who wouldn't approve a Bill. He has frequently paraded the armed forces at his whim and once even declared a COVID emergency that forced a shutdown of the assembly in order to stop the vetoing of a Bill that was going against his favour.

He is also accused by the Opposition of being corrupt and reinstating important government positions with members of his own family. In typical Bukele fashion, he would simply fire those who didn't cooperate with him and once even fired 5 Supreme Court Judges and appointed new ones that would dance to his tune.

While many youngsters and expats abroad view him as a youth icon, Bukele is also regarded as an aspiring Millenial dictator. Although he currently has over 90 per cent approval ratings, a point of contention is whether after decades of gang warfare, depreciating economy, unemployment and corruption, was the country ever democratic in recent history?