/388/ Betting on Bukele (I) ft. Nelson Rauda / Juan Rojas

Aufhebunga Bunga

On El Salvador and mass incarceration.

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, has just been re-elected on a landslide. His trademark policy is a state of emergency and the locking-up of tens of thousands of suspected gang members. He also made Bitcoin legal tender. What is 'Bukelismo', will it last, and will it spread?

First, we talk to Nelson Rauda, an editor at investigative outlet El Faro about the mood in El Salvador, what the state of emergency has been like, who the main gangs are and whether Bukele has secretly been negotiating with them, and what opposition there is to Bukele's subversion of democracy and civil liberties.

Then, Juan Rojas, Latin America columnist at Compact Magazine, joins us to discuss why such 'mano dura' (iron fist) policies have failed elsewhere but why they continue to appeal across the region – including among the poor and working class. Will Bukelismo spread, and will it serve as a model in Latin America and beyond?

Readings:

• El Salvador’s Bitcoin Paradise Is a Mirage, Nelson Rauda, NYT
• Behind Bukele's Revolution, Juan Rojas & Geoff Shullenberger, Compact
• On Security, Bukele and Petro Have a Problem in Common, Juan Rojas, Americas Quarterly
• In response to killings, El Salvador’s bitcoin president attacks civil liberties, Nelson Rauda, LA Times
• The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's Authoritarian President, Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker
• Chaos in Ecuador, Guillaume Long, Sidecar/NLR
• ¡Viva la ‘eficracia’!, Martin Caparrós, El País