El Salvador’s Bitcoin-loving President

‘Gill is a Salvadoran term for cool, and perhaps the best way to describe El Salvador’s 43-year-old President Nayib Bukele, who plans to revive the Central American country’s economy using Bitcoin reserves.

Bukele, a major proponent of Bitcoin, recently announced that El Salvador will no longer rely on foreign debt for its annual budget.

This was a major revelation to the world as El Salvador had stopped using the local currency ‘Colon’ in 2001 and adopted the US dollar as its official currency.

El Salvador’s economic turnaround has been made possible in large part by the policies of President Bukele. Bukele, who has been called the “coolest dictator ever,” has played a major role in cracking down on drug cartels and gang violence that has plagued Latin and Central American countries.

However, not much is known about Bukele’s personal life: from a businessman of humble origins, to joining a left-wing political party, to becoming president of El Salvador, winning two elections in a row.

In this special article, we focus on Bukele, his personal journey, his political moves, and his love for all things crypto.

Nayib Bukele’s early days

On a warm summer evening in the heart of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, a young Nayib stood on the balcony of his family’s mansion and gazed out at the cityscape before him.
Little did he know that in 30 years he would once again be leading his country’s affairs, staring out at the same setting sun from the presidential palace in San Salvador.

Bukele’s journey from the family balcony to the presidential palace is a story of unfiltered ambition and unorthodox methods.

Bukele was born on July 24, 1981, in San Salvador. He was of mixed religious background: his father, Armando Bukele Kattán, was a prominent businessman of Palestinian descent and a leader of the country’s Muslim community, while his mother, Olga Ortez de Bukele, was Roman Catholic.

His upbringing was no less than that of a ‘boy prince’. After finishing high school, he dropped out of law school at Central American University to join the family business Brand Nolck Publicidad, a public relations agency.

During this phase, he worked closely with his company’s main client: the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), one of the two political parties that have played a crucial role in the Salvadoran government since the end of the civil war in 1992.

Note that before 1992 the FMLN was a guerrilla movement, which they shut down after the end of the civil war and transformed into a legitimate political party.

Political journey: from mayor to president of El Salvador

Bukele’s move into politics was strongly influenced by his father’s entrepreneurial spirit and his deep-rooted belief in the need for reforms.

While working at his family business, he developed communication skills and political acumen by managing public relations campaigns for the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). During that time, Nayib Bukele also discovered the ground reality while doing great in the public relations business. He said, “It showed me the reality of my country.”

In 2012, Bukele’s political career took off when he was elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán, a small town near San Salvador. His tenure was marked by efforts to improve local infrastructure and social services, which earned him considerable popularity. Building on this success, he was elected mayor of San Salvador in 2015, where he again focused on urban development and anti-corruption measures.

Bukele’s motivation to run for president came from his frustration with the traditional political parties, which he saw as corrupt and ineffective.

After being expelled from the FMLN in 2017, he founded the Nuevas Ideas party. This brand-new party spoke of transparency and modernization. His intense presidential campaign capitalized on his strong social media presence and his appeal to younger voters, who were disillusioned with the status quo.

Bukele was elected president in 2019 and quickly implemented his Territorial Control Plan to combat gang violence, significantly reducing the country’s murder rate.

Despite his controversial methods, including mass arrests that critics say undermine democratic institutions, Bukele has remained quite popular among Salvadorans, who appreciate his tough approach to crime and corruption.

Nayib’s tough stance against drug cartels

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has taken a hard-line approach to controlling gangs and bringing social justice to the country.

Under Nayib Bukele, the most popular action was to impose an extended state of emergency. He imposed a nationwide state of emergency in March 2022 after observing rising levels of gang violence.

Over time, the state of emergency has been extended, which means that certain constitutional rights are suspended, making it easier for police to arrest suspected gang members without due process.

Under this repression, more than 77,000 people have been arrested, which is more than 1% of El Salvador’s population. These arrested gangs are being held in a facility known as the Terrorism Detention Center.

These aggressive actions have influenced and disrupted gang activity, forcing many gang members to flee the country or go into hiding. In 2021, the homicide rate dropped to its lowest level since the end of the Salvadoran Civil War in 1992, with 18 homicides per 100,000 people.

In addition, the large-scale arrests and strict measures in prisons have also prevented gang leaders from communicating and coordinating effectively with their members, which helped Nayib Bukele to break the gangs.

However, this approach has been heavily criticized for human rights violations. Reports indicate that many arrests under Nayib Bukele’s watch have been “dictatorial,” with individuals being detained on little or no evidence and denied access to legal counsel.

Despite these concerns, Bukele’s tough policies have helped greatly reduce violence and gang control in many sensitive areas. This includes downtown San Salvador – parts of Soyapango, Apopoa and the surrounding area on the east side of the city, as well as Mejicanos.

The murder rate in El Salvador, once the murder capital of the world, has dropped significantly thanks to aggressive government security measures.

Bukele’s love for Bitcoin is endless

In September 2021, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele made a bold move by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, making El Salvador the first country in the world to do so.

He has been an outspoken critic of the US tax system and has been timely, criticizing the US for its negative impact on global markets. He recently shared a “brrrrrrr” meme, which sarcastically means printing dollars in the wake of inflation.