Nayib Bukele claims landslide victory and says Spanish democracy is a colonial fraud in impassioned speech to supporters

Nayib Bukele claims landslide victory and says Spanish democracy is a colonial fraud in impassioned speech to supporters

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s millennial president, attacked Spanish colonialism and imperialism in a fiery victory speech after he won a landslide victory.

Amid claims he is turning the country into a dictatorship, he boasted to flag-waving crowds below the presidential palace that El Salvador would be the first country with “a one-party system in a democracy”.

“The entire opposition together was pulverised,” Mr Bukele, who once styled himself the “world’s coolest dictator”, told the cheering masses.

The baseball cap-wearing Mr Bukele, 42, has become vastly popular for his war on gangs, but he has also been accused of stifling the courts and silencing opposition.

In his speech he said a Spanish journalist had recently asked him why he wants to dismantle democracy.

  • The Snark Urge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    357·
    10 months ago

    Anyone who puts the words “coolest dictator” in a non satire publication needs to be stockaded

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
      342·
      10 months ago

      It’s what he calls himself on Twitter. I think it’s good for journalists to bring this cringe to light

      • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
        818·
        10 months ago

        Have you ever considered that kind of dichotomy actually helps him rather than hurts him?

        Imagine being a Bukele supporter and seeing people like you say he’s bad just because has too much power.

        To El Salvador’s population, Bukele is responsible for stopping gangs from freely using rape and murder as means of extortion. They don’t care about your stupid western ideological wars. To them, results are more important.

        Compare El Salvador’s gang problem to Mexico’s, and perhaps you can see why dictatorships are not intrinsically bad just like democracies are not intrinsically good.

        I don’t expect you to have that level of rationality, though.

          • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.worldEnglish
            710·
            10 months ago

            Great dismissal of the truth you refuse to look at. The people of El Salvador love the man because he drastically reduced crime. Rape and murder was horrendously common there. People were afraid to leave their homes, even in the middle of the day. When you live like that for years and someone comes in and eliminates 95% of the crime almost overnight, yea, you’re not really gonna give a shit if he followed due process and whatever he calls himself when you can suddenly leave your house in peace. There’s a reason why he’s so popular there.

        • The Snark Urge@lemmy.worldEnglish
          61·
          10 months ago

          I read it, but you know many simply go by headlines, which are tailored as clickbait, often irresponsibly. So I’m fine with quoting the guy in context, but it’s poor form to let him get away with ‘coolest dictator’ in the context-free part that 80% of people will see.