El Salvador: Nayib Bukele claims 'record' reelection victory

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00:00 He styles himself as the most popular dictator in the world, and El Salvador's general election

00:05 may have proven it.

00:07 Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele hopes that his sweeping victory on Sunday will give credibility

00:13 to a tenure that has been marked by erosion of the rule of law.

00:16 Indeed, a main factor in his high approval rating has been his strong-arm tactics to

00:22 quash rampant gang violence.

00:24 "We are on the cusp of winning the war against the gangs.

00:30 We went from being, and it's not an exaggeration, it's not a hyperbole, we went from being the

00:36 most dangerous country in the world to being the most secure in all of the Western Hemisphere."

00:43 In 2018, El Salvador faced a murder rate of 53 per 100,000 people.

00:49 But under Bukele, it has been reduced to 2.4 per 100,000.

00:54 Bukele has launched campaigns of mass arrests, imprisoning more than 75,000 people, 2% of

01:01 the country.

01:03 Human rights organizations have also documented arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances,

01:08 torture and massive violations of due process.

01:12 Most Salvadorans are unbothered, however.

01:15 "The decisions that he has made are fine.

01:18 Thank God that so far, we live in freedom.

01:21 Many people think that it's a dictatorship, but it's not.

01:24 Or even if it is a dictatorship, it's an excellent one."

01:29 Bukele's greatest challenge will be righting the country's flagging economy.

01:33 Economic growth has largely stalled despite Bukele's efforts to project prosperity, including

01:39 making El Salvador the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender.

01:44 Many foreign investors have been scared off by Bukele's unpredictability.

01:48 A quarter of Salvadorans now live in poverty and half face food insecurity in 2023.

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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