Nayib Bukele: authoritarian, abusive and extremely popular

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, is authoritarian, abusive and extremely popular. His security model has become attractive in a worrying context of crime and violence in Latin America and threatens to further weaken the region’s democratic institutions. To meet these challenges, an effective and human rights-respecting response to crime is necessary.

Recently, Bukele’s legislators in the Legislative Assembly approved a law allowing mass trials for suspected gang members. Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro said that up to 900 people could be prosecuted in the same hearing. According to some deputies, with these measures the Prosecutor’s Office will not have to present individual evidence against the accused during the criminal proceedings. These Kafkaesque trials would undermine access to justice for gang victims, make it more difficult to free the innocent, and open the door to massive violations of due process.

More than 71,000 people, including more than 1,600 minors, have been detained by the security forces of El Salvador under an emergency regime that has suspended basic rights for almost a year and a half. Many Salvadorans with no gang connection have been detained, especially in low-income communities. Our investigations reveal that some people captured have been tortured, dozens have died in custody, and thousands have been subjected to inhumane conditions of detention, including extremely overcrowded prisons. Most are incommunicado, without any access to their families.

An immense concentration of power in the hands of the Executive has paved the way for these measures. Since he took office, Bukele has co-opted the Supreme Court, replaced the attorney general with an ally, and removed independent judges. In addition, he has promoted a hostile environment for civil society and independent journalism, forcing several journalists into exile.

However, for many, Bukele’s security policies appear to be a solution to crime and violence in the region. El Salvador’s homicide rate, for years one of the highest in the world, reached a rate of 7.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, according to official figures. According to Bukele, the homicide rate has decreased further in 2023. However, reports of manipulations and changes in the way murders are counted in the country limit the possibility of estimating the true extent of the reduction. Extortion, the main source of funding for the gangs, also appears to have decreased significantly.

In some countries, citizens are advocating for a Bukele of their own, despite the draconian nature of many of its policies. So much so that Latinobarómetro, a regional public opinion study, recently held that Bukele is the “best-evaluated president of all time since the beginning of the (democratic) transition in Latin America.”

It’s easy to understand why

According to the latest statistics, Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest annual regional homicide rate in the world in 2021, with 19.91 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double the rate that the World Health Organization considers the threshold. of “endemic violence”.

While some countries, such as Venezuela and Honduras, have rates of more than 30, or even 40, homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, several large countries in the region, such as Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, have rates of between 20 and 30, and some countries with Historically lower rates, such as Chile and Costa Rica, have registered a significant increase in homicides in recent years. Rates of other crimes, such as extortion, are also high.

One of the most dramatic cases is Ecuador, where gangs have caused a very serious increase in violence, with a homicide rate that has doubled in one year. Extortion is at an all-time high, and there have been bombing attacks, prison massacres, and assassinations of elected officials, prosecutors, judges, and political candidates.

The leaders of the region have not been able to give an effective and respectful response of human rights to violence and crime.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” strategy has so far failed to reduce massacres, child recruitment and kidnappings by armed groups. In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has embraced the slogan “hugs, not bullets,” while promoting militarization, reducing funding for local police forces and failing to reduce cartel violence. President Xiomara Castro of Honduras campaigned against militarization, but recently restored military control over prisons and, like Bukele, she suspended various constitutional rights in large parts of the country.

Faced with these challenges, Bukele offers a simple answer: more prisoners, more prisons, and mass trials. His powerful propaganda machine has portrayed his government’s human rights violations as alleged achievements.

But its flashy propaganda also hides some disturbing facts. According to the US Department of Justice, the Bukele government initially secretly negotiated with gang leaders, offering them prison privileges and protection from extradition to the US, in exchange for lower homicide rates and support for the elections. When the negotiations failed, the government began to apply heavy-handed measures.

In the past, neither secret gang negotiations nor punitive security policies have sustainably curbed violence in El Salvador. Bukele’s predecessors negotiated with the gangs without effectively dismantling them. These agreements achieved a short-term reduction in killings, but were followed by an increase and escalation of violence. In turn, previous security policies based on mass incarceration allowed gang members to increase recruitment within prisons, using detention centers as their operational base.

Bukele’s narrative is also misleading. His government suggests that the checks and balances of democracy represent an obstacle to providing security for citizens. On the contrary, these mechanisms are key to preventing corruption and abuse of power, and ensuring that the law applies to all equally.

In the same way, Bukele presents human rights and public security as contradictory objectives. Quite the contrary, governments have a human rights obligation to take measures to protect the population from violence and crime. In doing so, they are also bound to uphold due process guarantees, which are essential to ensure that prosecutions are not arbitrary, that innocent people are not abused, and that victims receive the justice they deserve.

Bukele’s popularity is a reflection of the inability of Latin American governments to address violence and crime. Efforts urgently need to be redoubled to design and implement rights-respecting strategies that address the structural causes that contribute to violence, including high levels of poverty and social exclusion. It is important that strategic criminal proceedings be carried out focused on investigating violent crimes, particularly those committed by chronic perpetrators or leaders of criminal organizations, as well as curbing their financing, their political support through corruption, and their access to weapons.

The lack of an effective and legitimate response to insecurity is endangering the lives of our citizens and our democratic institutions.

Juan Pappier is the deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch.

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