On Sunday, El Salvador goes to presidential and parliamentary elections.
It is described as a choice between democracy and security.
President Nayib Bukele, who describes himself as the world’s “coolest dictator”, is seeking re-election, – despite the fact that the constitution prohibits him.
But a successful fight against organized crime has made him immensely popular.
El Salvador was once considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries. Today, crime and homicide statistics have dropped drastically, and people are reclaiming the streets.
– We lived in insecurity and couldn’t express ourselves as we can today, Bukele is a man of honor, says 80-year-old Margarita as she happily dances to a street orchestra in San Salvador’s old quarter.
One percent in prison
Two years ago, the country’s young president, Nayib Bukele, declared a state of emergency, which gave the police more opportunities to arrest people. He declared war on the organized crime that had long terrorized the population and built a new super prison for the notorious criminal gangs.
Today, just over a percent of the population is locked up, 76,000 people.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly stated that there is torture and abuse in the prisons, and that at least 150 prisoners have died. They also point to the arrest of thousands of innocents.
“Innocents die”
Sandra Hernandez’s husband José disappeared almost two years ago. He was a day laborer in agriculture, and according to her not a criminal. One day she learned that he had died in prison. She is critical of the indiscriminate arrests.
– It is not gang criminals who die, but innocents. They lock up poor people and don’t let them out.
Some relatives of those imprisoned demonstrated outside the attorney general’s office this week, shouting derogatory slogans against the president. But the critics find it increasingly difficult to make themselves heard.
Expected to be re-elected
Former PR consultant Nayib Bukele has only campaigned on social media and rarely has to be held accountable for variously dismantling democratic control functions and concentrating more power to himself.
The constitution actually prohibits him from running for re-election, but after he appointed loyal judges to the Supreme Court, he got it to approve the candidacy.
Bukele is expected to be re-elected on Sunday. According to opinion polls, he can get between 70 and 90 percent of the vote. This despite the fact that more than a quarter of the population lives in poverty and the government has failed to create jobs, especially for the young.
The increasingly authoritarian president has become a fixture in Latin America, where more and more countries have been paralyzed by drug gangs and mafia gangs.
The fact that he dismantled democratic control functions in various ways and concentrated more power to himself is less talked about. Nor that anyone knows how his policies will affect crime in the long term.