El Salvador confirms Bukele’s supermajority after opposition calls to void election results
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters El Salvador’s election authority on Monday announced that President Nayib Bukele’s ruling New Ideas party would control a super majority in the next legislature with 54 out of 60 seats, following a hand count of votes. Opposition parties earlier on Monday had asked the body to void the results of […]
El Salvador launches mass trial for nearly 500 accused gang leaders
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters El Salvador on Thursday kicked off a mass trial to prosecute nearly 500 alleged leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha gang for more than 37,000 crimes committed over a decade, the Central American nation’s prosecutor’s office said. Alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang appear on a screen during a remote […]
Bukele landslide shifts El Salvador to one-party state, amplifies democracy fears
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters The landslide re-election of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was cheered by supporters of his gang crackdown, but has worried opponents who fear the country is sliding into a de facto one-party state. The tallying of the vote was still ongoing on Monday but Bukele had appeared to deliver a […]
El Salvador President Bukele declares himself winner of election
San Salvador. El Salvador Reuters President Nayib Bukele on Sunday declared himself winner of El Salvador’s national elections in a landslide, claiming he captured more than 85 per cent of the vote – even though electoral officials have not released any results. Bukele was the heavy favourite to win another five-year term as voters largely […]
Essay: El Salvador voters set to trade democracy for promise of security in presidential election
In an article first published on The Conversation, MNEESHA GELLMA says there is little doubt over the result of this weekend’s election…
El Salvador: Bukele looks set for landslide election win on gang crackdown
SARAH KINOSIAN and NELSON RENTERIA, of Reuters, report ahead of Sunday’s election…
“Extraordinary measures”: Once tranquil Costa Rica eyes Salvadoran-inspired response to crime surge
ALVARO MURILLO and ISABEL WOODFORD, of Reuters, report on President Rodrigo Chaves’ efforts to tackle rising crime…
Essay: How Ecuador went from being Latin America’s model of stability to a nation in crisis
EDUARDO GAMARRA, a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University, looks – in an article first piblished on The Conversation – at recent events in Ecuador…
El Salvador experiencing “alarming regression” on human rights – report
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters El Salvador has seen “an alarming regression” of human rights protections during President Nayib Bukele’s government, a trend that has intensified under a sweeping anti-gang crackdown, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday. Bukele has enjoyed widespread popularity since taking office in 2019, due in part to a state […]
El Salvador lawmakers repeal media crackdown, declare “war on gangs won”
San SalvadorReuters El Salvador’s Congress repealed a law on Wednesday that criminalised the publication of gang messages, as ruling party leaders declared victory in their war against criminal groups. President Nayib Bukele launched a sweeping crackdown on the small Central American nation’s hyper-violent gangs early last year, sharply reducing crime rates while the incarceration skyrocketed, […]