🇸🇻 Gangsters in El Salvador are terrified of strongman Nayib Bukele
He protects citizens from crime. But who will protect them from him?
On February 4th El Salvador is holding elections. Mr Bukele is constitutionally barred from standing for a second term. Yet he is standing, having confected a Putinesque workaround to dodge term limits. And he is certain to win, having brought peace to a country previously terrorised by criminal gangs. He is one of the most popular leaders in the world. Many politicians in the region wonder if they should emulate him.
Mr Bukele has also used his crusade for public order as an excuse to move towards authoritarianism. He has used soldiers to intimidate lawmakers. He has purged and packed the judiciary. He has imposed a “temporary” state of emergency, which keeps being extended. Journalists face prison if they report on the gang crackdown in a way that “creates panic”. Election rules have been tweaked to give the ruling party an advantage. The powers Mr Bukele has amassed are enough to cow the press, the judiciary and his opponents. When re-elected, he will no doubt continue to dismantle checks and balances. If, one day, Salvadoreans tire of him, they may find it hard to remove him. And he is only 42.
One lesson is that politicians who respect the rule of law must take street-level crime seriously or risk being outflanked by strongmen. Mr Bukele warns that if the opposition were to win, they would “let all the gangsters free”, as one campaign ad put it.
The best way to reduce gang violence in Latin America would be to legalise drugs everywhere, removing the largest prize over which gangsters fight. This would not be a panacea—the gangs in El Salvador made their money largely from extortion. And it is not going to happen soon—the United States would make life unpleasant for any country that tried it.
So leaders who care about civil liberties must do the hard, patient work of figuring out how to fight crime without trampling on them. That means training police better to investigate crimes, and speeding up trials so suspects don’t spend years in cells awaiting their day in court, during which they may be recruited by gangs. It does not mean using the army as cops.
📝 The Rothschilds want to legalise every hardcore drug to ”fight the cartels”.
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THE COST OF THE AMERICAN DREAM HAS EXPLODED.
Owning a home.
Buying groceries.
Driving to work.
Paying insurance.
Even your morning coffee.
Nearly every major household expense costs dramatically more than it did just a few years ago.
Over the last 7 years:
• Coffee: +127%
• Home prices: +60%
• Auto insurance: +51%
• Gasoline: +49%
• Electricity: +44%
• Shelter: +35%
• Groceries: +33%
And that's before paying for healthcare, transportation, or eating out.
This is why so many families feel like they're falling behind even when they get a raise.
The biggest financial problem for millions of Americans is that everything is going up at the same time, while the government keeps showing a 2% inflation target.
🄳🄾🄾🄼🄿🤖🅂🅃🄸🄽🄶
Biohacker Bryan Johnson claimed he cloned himself as a newborn for the purpose of providing him blood and cells.