Central America
Nayib Bukele, the ruler who breaks ideologies in favor of the people
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”.
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.
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.
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).
Central America
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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