Bukele and the Farce of Unconstitutional Reelection: Authoritarianism and Bitcoin as a Smokescreen
May 20, 2025
Bukelethe self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world," has achieved the seemingly impossible: circumventing El Salvador's Constitution, which expressly prohibits presidential reelection, and remaining in power after a blatantly illegitimate judicial maneuver. In 2021, the Constitutional Court,controlled by allies after the summary dismissal of independent judges,reinterpreted the rules to allow his candidacy in 2024, ignoring Article 152 of the Magna Carta, which prohibited consecutive reelection. This move, compared by critics to a "technical coup," has consolidated a regime that replaces institutions with personal loyalties, while the international community watches helplessly as Salvadoran democracy is dismantled.
Meanwhile, Bukele spends public money as if El Salvador were his personal startup. His bet on Bitcoin as legal tender , a measure announced with fanfare in 2021 , has proven to be a resounding failure. The country has lost millions as the cryptocurrency’s value plummeted, and Salvadorans, far from receiving the promised “bitcoins for all,” have seen public resources used to sustain a fantasy of modernity. Investments in digital infrastructure, such as the ill-fated “Bitcoin City,” have never come to fruition, while hospitals and schools have faced budget cuts. What was supposed to be a leap into the future has become a bottomless pit for speculation with the public purse.
Bukele’s narrative is clear: to govern like a CEO, not like a public servant. His anti-political rhetoric and his obsession with “efficiency” mask a project of centralized power, where decisions are made without transparency or control. The recent 30% tax on donations to NGOs , an attempt to stifle civil society , and the imprisonment of opponents on vague charges reveal the true objective: to silence anyone who dares to question his government. Meanwhile, his supporters, buoyed by the (questionable) reduction in violence, turn a blind eye to the daily violations of human rights and the criminalization of poverty.
The worst part is that Bukele's strategy works because it exploits the population's weariness with traditional elites. He sells the image of an "outsider" who "breaks the system", but repeats the same vices: nepotism (his brothers hold key positions), corruption (he bought properties during his term) and shady dealings with criminals (accusations of pacts with gangs remain uninvestigated). The difference is that now, all of this is wrapped up in digital marketing and speeches on TikTok, where facts are replaced by hashtags.
El Salvador deserves better than a leader who treats the state as an ego experiment. Bukele’s unconstitutional reelection is not only an affront to democracy , it is a warning that, without resistance, the country is heading towards authoritarianism disguised as innovation. While the gullible still wait for their free bitcoin, the bill arrives in the form of arbitrary arrests, censorship and a future mortgaged by a populism that only benefits the usual. The public return on this “investment”? Dictatorship, with the right to likes.
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