Central America

Nayib Bukele, the ruler who breaks ideologies in favor of the people

Photo: @SecPrensaSV

October 2 |

Nayib Bukele is a president who has transcended ideologies, which has allowed him to work without political-party ties for El Salvador and its inhabitants, especially the marginalized, the excluded and those in vulnerable situations, according to political and social analysts.

Mauricio Rodríguez and Nelson Flores, sociologist and specialist in public administration, respectively, agree that all the projects developed by the Bukele administration have the common denominator of benefiting the communities.

“Transcending ideologies allows us to see the problems of the population to attack them head on and in a forceful manner, and that is what has been done since [Bukele] came to power,” ponders political analyst and sociologist Mauricio Rodríguez.

While Flores considers that “President Bukele from the beginning of his administration managed to capture and understand the common feeling and the real needs of the most unprotected and marginalized population for decades”.

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Both analysts also consider that, by transcending ideologies, the Salvadoran president is guaranteeing the welfare and social development of Salvadorans who for years were at the center of the class struggle of right and left.

“President Bukele’s actions made a difference, and his policy focused on seeking the welfare of the population with specific and timely actions,” says Flores, who is also an international cooperation consultant.

Flores maintains that Bukele, with his plan for the nation, has transcended ideologies in the areas of public security, education, health, housing and technology, with which he has put Salvadorans at the center without distinction.

“The population was unprotected and marginalized for decades by a bipartisanship [ARENA and FMLN] that only sought to satisfy the interests of its political leaders and ruling class,” he recalls.

Meanwhile, Rodríguez also maintains that the Bukele administration “has left ideologies aside and has made El Salvador move forward” despite the ungovernability caused by the previous Legislative Assembly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economic crisis, among other external factors.

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As part of his presidential administration without ideological ties, Bukele has consolidated diplomatic relations and friendship with powers such as the United States, Turkey, the People’s Republic of China, among others. Diplomatic relations were recently established with Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi and Angola, in the African continent.

On the contrary, every year-end ARENA and FMLN showed how to block -for ideological reasons- the development of the country and the wellbeing of its inhabitants. The FMLN and ARENA in the Legislative Assembly conditioned their votes on the approval of the general state budget. The ARENOS repeated the same script when they were the opposition in the Congress and the Farabunditas governed the Executive.

Former ARENA advisor and political analyst Carlos Araujo has recognized that the so-called representative democracy and the balance of power have only served for the opposition to block each other and affect the welfare of the people.

“During these 30 years one was in the Government and the other side was in the Assembly with the opposition, and what did they do? They blocked each other […]. Democracy did not solve the big problems that the people demanded”, explains Araujo.

With his triumph in February 2019, Bukele broke with 30 years of the arenero-efemelenista bipartisanship, being considered a person without ideological prejudices that has allowed building a new country from Plan Cuscatlán.

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His triumph at the polls, with over 53% of votes, made him the youngest president in the recent history of El Salvador who did not have the traditional ARENA and FMLN parties as his guide, both of which are today splashed by corruption scandals after leaving the Executive.

Bukele is the best evaluated and most popular head of state of El Salvador more than four years after the beginning of his administration, something unprecedented in the recent history of the country, as well as the most influential politician in the region, according to surveys of national and international firms.

With a view to the 2024 elections, Bukele has a 68.4% voting intention, according to the latest public opinion poll of the Universidad Francisco Gavidia (UFG).

Related Topics:Central America El Salvador Nayib Bukele

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