The Bukeleization of Latin America Has Arrived

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Nayib Bukele’s notoriously harsh and wildly popular security crackdown in El Salvador is spawning imitators and remaking the region.

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has overseen an extraordinary security crackdown that has led to plummeting crime rates. Credit: Fred Ramos for The New York Times
When Flávio Bolsonaro was considering a run for president of Brazil, he flew to one of Latin America’s tiniest nations, looking for ideas. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador had turned what was once the world’s deadliest country into one of its safest, largely by rounding up tens of thousands of young men and sentencing them to prison in mass trials.

Mr. Bolsonaro, the son of Brazil’s right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, was inspired. He announced his campaign a few weeks later, in December, and adopted a platform that called for five new maximum-security prisons, eight-year prison sentences for cellphone thieves and chemical castration for rapists and pedophiles. At a recent rally, he told voters: “I’m starting to think El Salvador isn’t enough.”

He then won the first round of Brazil’s election, and in Sunday’s runoff, he is the favorite to win the presidency. That would make Mr. Bolsonaro the eighth consecutive right-wing president elected in Latin America over the past 18 months, all of whom have praised or adopted Mr. Bukele’s hard-line tactics.

Many of these new leaders are building megaprisons and undermining civil liberties to incarcerate more people, while turning to social media to promote their work and demonize the young men they target.

Mr. Bukele’s influence is clear. The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica are carrying out crackdowns featured in slickly produced videos resembling his. In Lima, propaganda lines a highway promoting a politician who declares himself the “Peruvian Bukele.” Dozens of Latin American officials have toured Mr. Bukele’s 40,000-capacity prison to try to burnish their crime-fighting credentials. And eight countries have their own maximum-security prisons in the works.

All of this comes with the backing of the most powerful country in the hemisphere. President Trump is one of Mr. Bukele’s biggest fans and has lifted him up as a model for the region.

Call it the Bukeleization of Latin America. » | Jack Nicas | Jack Nicas is a lead correspondent in Latin America. He reported from across the region, including in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. | Friday, October 23, 2026

Salvador : 90 % des détenus liés à la lutte contre les gangs n'ont pas été jugés

Le président du Salvador, Nayib Bukele, à la Maison présidentielle à San Salvador, El Salvador, le 16 octobre 2026. Jose Cabezas / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : Le procureur général du pays, Rodolfo Delgado, a indiqué lors d’une réunion au Congrès que ses services avaient enregistré un peu plus de 10.500 condamnations. Près de 90 % des détenus attendent donc encore leur jugement.

Près de 90 % des 93.000 détenus au Salvador dans le cadre de l'état d'exception maintenu depuis quatre ans par le président Nayib Bukele dans sa guerre contre les gangs criminels n'ont toujours pas été jugés, a présenté mardi le parquet. Sa lutte très autoritaire contre les gangs a réduit la criminalité à des niveaux historiquement bas au Salvador, mais des ONG et un groupe d'experts de l'ONU pointent des exactions pouvant constituer des crimes contre l'humanité, entre autres arrestations arbitraires et décès en prison.

Le procureur général du pays, Rodolfo Delgado, a indiqué lors d'une réunion au Congrès que ses services avaient enregistré un peu plus de 10.500 condamnations ; ce qui signifie que près de 90 % des détenus attendent encore leur jugement. En présentant ce bilan du parquet, M. Delgado a émis l'espoir que le nombre d'« affaires qui sont déjà passées par la case procès (puissent) augmenter ». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mercredi 21 octobre 2026

El Salvador: Expertengruppe wirft Bukele-Regierung Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit vor

BERLINER ZEITUNG: Menschenrechtsorganisationen berichten über schwere Vorwürfe gegen El Salvadors Regierung. Sie werfen ihr systematische Missachtung rechtsstaatlicher Garantien vor.

Ein neuer Menschenrechtsbericht erhöht den Druck auf El Salvadors Präsidenten Nayib Bukele. Am Dienstag berichtete Reuters, dass ein Expertenteam El Salvadors Regierung unter dem seit März 2022 geltenden Ausnahmezustand systematische Menschenrechtsverletzungen vorwirft.

Der Vorwurf ist politisch brisant, weil Bukeles harter Kurs gegen die kriminellen Banden im Land weiter Rückhalt hat. Zugleich verschiebt der Bericht die Debatte auf die Frage, ob der drastische Rückgang der Gewalt mit systematischen Rechtsbrüchen erkauft wurde. » | Peter Steiniger | Mittwoch, 11. März 2026

The Bukele Scam: MS-13 Deals, Dictatorship, and US Cover-ups

Oct 26, 2025 | Conservatives praise Nayib Bukele as a bold crime-fighter. But the truth is far more disturbing. Bukele built his power on repression, lies, and secret deals with MS-13. He turned El Salvador into a dictatorship by purging courts, jailing critics, and removing term limits so he can stay in power indefinitely.

US investigations found his government diverted aid to gangs in exchange for votes and reduced violence. He blocked extraditions, threatened prosecutors, and demanded the deportation of informants who exposed his ties to MS-13. This is not justice. It is corruption and cover-up.

Bukele is not fighting crime the way he claims. He is empowering criminals, silencing dissent, and lying to the world. His connections to Trump and Musk should be a warning.

Why do conservatives keep falling for scam artists like Bukele, Trump, Musk, and Orbán?

A Poor Country Made Bitcoin a National Currency. The Bet Isn’t Paying Off.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: It brought El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, the adulation of the tech community, but reduced scarce funds and moved the nation closer to default.

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador at an event in June to mark his third year in office.Credit...Jose Cabezas/Reuters
Bitcoin was meant to transform El Salvador’s economy, catapulting the poor Central American nation into an unlikely harbinger of a financial revolution.

But nearly a year after the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, shocked the financial world by making its most popular digital coin a national currency, his bet appears to be backfiring, highlighting the gap between the utopian promises of cryptocurrency’s proponents and economic realities.

The government’s bitcoin holdings have lost about 60 percent of their presumed value during the recent market plunge. The use of bitcoin among Salvadorans has collapsed and the country is running out of cash after Mr. Bukele failed to raise fresh funds from cryptocurrency investors. » | Anatoly Kurmanaev and Bryan Avelar | Tuesday, July 5, 2022