Nayib Bukele’s Growing List of Latin American Admirers
The Salvadoran president’s gang crackdown has fueled allegations of human rights abuses and erosion of democratic freedoms, but many in the region see it as a model to emulate.
To his many critics, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has become a ruthless strongman, trampling due process and other civil protections. But within Latin America, his militarized crackdown on gangs is winning him a fan club that won’t stop growing. Prominent politicians and everyday people in countries from neighboring parts of Central America to far-flung Peru and Chile have professed their admiration for his policies—and expressed a desire to see their own countries adopt a similar approach. Bukele’s mano dura security strategy, which escalated after he declared a state of...
Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.
