“A dictatorship is born”. So read the title of an op-ed by Salvadorean investigative media outlet El Faro in response to Nayib Bukele’s assumption of office on 1 June for a second five-year term. Having described himself as “the world’s coolest dictator”, Bukele becomes El Salvador’s first head of state in nearly a century to serve a second consecutive term after sidestepping a constitutional prohibition on re-election to win the February presidential election [WR-24-05]. With Bukele’s crackdown on gangs (amid a more general dismantling of democratic institutions) ultimately defining his first term, and ensuring sky-high popularity as homicides plummeted, the re-elected president has pledged to focus in his second term on the new number-one public concern - the economy.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1241 words.
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