Nayib Bukele: The unconventional president — Titan Profiles #3
Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, or simply Nayib Bukele, is the President of El Salvador since June 2019. In the last few years, he became extremely popular worldwide for becoming the first president to make Bitcoin legal tender in his country.
The young entrepreneur
Nayib is the son of Olga Ortez de Bukele and Armando Bukele Kattán. The latter, his father, was a prominent businessman, founding several companies of the textile, commerce, pharmaceuticals, advertising, and media industries. He also was a philanthropist and had an insatiable hunger for knowledge in several fields, such as politics, philosophy, and science.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Nayib took in most of his parents’ interests and values. He became passionate about justice, social well-being, and entrepreneurship from a very young age, driving him to study law at Central American University. A career he then abandoned to found his first company by the age of 18.
A life in politics
Bukele never lost his interest in social justice and progress, so he decided to start a career in politics. He joined the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a left-wing and one of the major political parties in El Salvador. By striking an alliance with the Democratic Change (CD) party, he managed to win his first election and become the mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán, a small municipality in the department of La Libertad.
His governing style was strongly oriented towards the community’s wellbeing. As soon as he started his period, he focused on improving the city’s healthcare system. He also implemented a monthly basic basket for the elderly, granted college scholarships to incentivize education, and invested heavily in safety and security policies and equipment, reducing the homicides to one in three years.
Positive results led to an explosive increase in Nayib’s popularity, which led him to run for Mayor at San Salvador, the nation’s capital. Despite winning, his individualistic approach to politics wasn’t of the liking of the FMLN.
Still, Bukele completed his mandate as Mayor, using the same governing style as in Nuevo Cuscatlán and achieving great results once again. Among his most notable feats is the recovery of San Salvador’s historic district, which used to be an area ridden with crime and violence. Now, it is one of the safest and most popular tourist destinations in the country.
By the time he ended his mandate, his popularity and approval ratings were off the charts. However, the FMLN considered he was drifting away from the party’s political views too much. After some heated up internal confrontations, they decided to expel him.
The long and winding road to the presidency
After being expelled from the only political party he was ever affiliated with, Bukele took a stance. He wanted to be seen as an independent candidate who rejected the current political system and brought new ideas to the table. That’s when he decided to start his own party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas). Nevertheless, he met great resistance from both his old party and the opposition he once beat. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of El Salvador aligned with them, disapproving his candidacy and ordering the dissolution of Nuevas Ideas.
But Bukele isn’t one to give up easily. He met with CD, who had helped him win his first election, and both parties accepted that he would be their presidential candidate. Nonetheless, the TSE held an emergency meeting and resolved to cancel his candidacy once again. What’s more, they did this only hours before the candidate registration deadline.
“Everything was set; Bukele was going to run for president in 2019 under the flag of Cambio Democratico. And what you know, on the last night for individuals to register themselves with the TSE as possible candidates with a particular political party, the CD party gets canceled.”
Now, this is where it gets dramatic. According to Eddie Galdamez, Bukele got word of the TSE meeting and learned that they didn’t accept his candidacy. So last minute, he affiliated with the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA), his last resource available to participate in the election, just minutes before midnight. The next day, when the TSE announced that CD was canceled, Bukele declared that he had switched parties and thus he was still on the race.
Bukele ran for office under the GANA flag and labeled as “the anti-system candidate.” And on February 3, 2019, he became the youngest president in El Salvador history, ending almost thirty years of bipartisanship.
Controversial events
Despite his rising popularity, Bukele isn’t free of controversial and questionable decisions.
To ensure approval of his Territorial Control Plan — a security initiative that was a significant point in his agenda — , the president summoned the Legislative Assembly to vote on a loan request to the United States. During the vote, armed forces entered the facilities by order of Bukele to intimidate legislators.
Another episode was when the assembly, led by Bukele’s party Nuevas Ideas, voted to remove five judges and the country’s attorney general from office on allegations of “arbitrary decisions” and obstructing the government’s health strategy over the coronavirus pandemic. The judges immediately ruled the vote unconstitutional, leading to a clash between the judiciary and legislative powers.
These events have earned Bukele many accusations of being anti-democratic and authoritarian, both from opposition parties and international organizations. Nevertheless, Bukele’s popularity and approval rating haven’t stopped growing.
The Bitcoin initiative
On June 5, 2021, at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Jack Mallers showed a video of Bukele announcing a bill to make Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador, believing in his potential to help us “build our own future.”
“In the short term, this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy,” Bukele said in his announcement video. Since then, the president has held meetings with several investors and personalities of the industry to develop the country’s infrastructure and favor Bitcoin investment.
So far, Bukele has begun the construction of mining facilities powered by geothermal energy from El Salvador’s volcanos; announced the development of a national wallet called Chivo, which will enable Salvadorans to buy and sell Bitcoin with zero fees; and has deployed over two hundred Bitcoin ATMs throughout the country.
The president has also insisted that the use of Bitcoin is entirely optional and that neither citizens nor businesses will be required to use it. As for the Bitcoin critics, he just said that they will be exposed as liars after the people see the true benefits of this initiative.
Unconventional presidents take unconventional decisions
Since the very inception of his presidency, Bukele has demonstrated he’s not your average president. Without ever stopping being controversial, he’s had his successes and his mistakes. He’s been a target of both serious accusations and devoted praises. Some call it authoritarian and anti-democratic, while others believe he will lead El Salvador to unprecedented prosperity.
Whichever side you’re on, one thing is clear: El Salvador’s experience with Bitcoin will be vital to set a precedent and encourage other countries to follow the same path. This is why the country needs the whole community’s support, whether you like Bukele or not. Bitcoin transcends individuals, and it shouldn’t matter who takes the initiative as long as it helps the people.
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