Meet Latin America's First Millennial Dictator
The self-described “coolest president in the world” is developing a new form of authoritarianism that may soon attract imitators.
BY MANUEL MELÉNDEZ-SÁNCHEZ
AUG 26, 20212:18 PM
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele gestures during the inauguration ceremony of El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games 2021, in El Sunzal, El Salvador on May 29, 2021. MARVIN RECINOS/Getty Images
Nayib Bukele, the 40-year-old President of El Salvador, is quickly becoming Latin America’s first millennial dictator. On May 1, 2021, Bukele and his supporters in the legislature fired the country’s top prosecutor and highest court—before packing both institutions with loyalists. Since this power grab, Bukele has used state agencies to harass journalists, investigate opposition parties, and undermine government oversight. He and his allies are also drafting a new constitution, expected to be unveiled later this year. Bukele’s mission, as he explained in a recent speech to the legislature, is to ensure that his opponents never return to power.
If public opinion is any indication, he may well succeed: Even as he has undermined Salvadoran democracy’s checks and balances, the president remains overwhelmingly popular. Elected in 2019 with 53 percent of the vote—21 points above his nearest rival—recent polls place Bukele’s approval rating well above 80 percent.
How has Bukele managed to amass so much power—and to remain so popular while doing so? As I argue in a recent piece, Bukele relies on millennial authoritarianism, a distinctive political strategy that combines traditional populist appeals, classic authoritarian behavior, and a youthful and modern personal brand built primarily via social media. These three elements have worked together to give Bukele a formidable political coalition.
Through traditional populist appeals, Bukele has successfully framed himself as an antidote to El Salvador’s corrupt and ineffective political establishment. Bukele describes his movement as a historic effort to retake power from a deeply entrenched political elite, which he calls los mismos de siempre, or “the same ones as always.” His campaign platform, for example, vowed to erase “institutional chieftainships” and return power to the people. And in his inauguration speech, Bukele claimed that, for the first time, Salvadorans would “decide how [they] want to be governed. Because now we will have a government of the people and for the people.” This populist narrative has resonated with many Salvadorans who are tired of a system that has long tolerated corruption, crime, and poverty, and long for a fresh start.
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. . . He is, in his own words, “the coolest president in the world.”
More:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/nayib-bukele-salvador-millenial-dictator-authoritarianism.html
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