04 May 2026
Security Sells
Latin America’s right-wing politicians are now particularly keen to visit the 23-hectare maximum-security prison in El Salvador, the brainchild of authoritarian president Nayib Bukele. Many politicians in the region see it as a silver bullet against gang violence. What they miss is that the model cannot be separated from its authoritarian foundations. The Salvadoran “success” rests on emergency rule, suspended fundamental rights, and a Constitutional Court pushed aside. Continue reading >>
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13 November 2023
A Second Term for “the World’s coolest Dictator”?
On October 26, Nayib Bukele, current President of the Republic of El Salvador, officially registered his candidacy for the presidency. This is in clear violation of El Salvador’s Constitution which prohibits the renewed, consecutive candidacy of a sitting president. In the "Western" media, Bukele has mostly made the news for establishing "mega-prisons" and conducting mass arrests under his watch. In this blogpost, I highlight the political moves that Bukele has made to legitimize his rule and methods, including his repeated extension of El Salvador’s state of emergency and his capture of the Constitutional Chamber. Together with his renewed candidacy, his rule has destroyed El Salvador’s adherence to its own constitutional framework. Continue reading >>
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