El Salvador’s "Cool Dictator" Bukele Begins Controversial 2nd Term with Backing from Biden & Trump

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Self-described as the “world’s coolest dictator,” Nayib Bukele was sworn in Saturday for a second term as president of El Salvador in a move widely denounced as illegitimate. El Salvador’s constitution limits presidents to one term and prohibits consecutive reelections. However, a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling approved Bukele’s reelection bid after his allies in the Salvadoran National Assembly illegally removed all five magistrates from the court and replaced them with Bukele supporters. Democracy Now! speaks with Roman Gressier, a reporter in San Salvador covering Central American politics for El Faro English, about Bukele’s popularity during his dramatic crackdown on gangs, the surveillance of journalists and human rights organizations, and the “parallel U.S. delegations” to Bukele’s inauguration from both the Biden administration and a cast of right-wing, Trump-aligned characters despite growing condemnation of Bukele’s authoritarian rule.

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