this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Nayib Bukele claims landslide victory and says Spanish democracy is a colonial fraud in impassioned speech to supporters

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s millennial president, attacked Spanish colonialism and imperialism in a fiery victory speech after he won a landslide victory.

Amid claims he is turning the country into a dictatorship, he boasted to flag-waving crowds below the presidential palace that El Salvador would be the first country with “a one-party system in a democracy”.

“The entire opposition together was pulverised,” Mr Bukele, who once styled himself the “world’s coolest dictator”, told the cheering masses.

The baseball cap-wearing Mr Bukele, 42, has become vastly popular for his war on gangs, but he has also been accused of stifling the courts and silencing opposition.

In his speech he said a Spanish journalist had recently asked him why he wants to dismantle democracy.

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A one party democracy

So

A dictatorship

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I had to find out how accurate that quote was, since everyone who writes about this guy mentions the coolest dictator thing.

He did write that, in Spanish, on his Twitter bio.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (2 children)

"The coolest dictator of the world globally"

[–] calcopiritus 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"Del mundo mundial" on Spanish is a common phrase (mostly used by children) to say "of the world". If you want to translate literally, it would be more like "of the worldly world".

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[–] bigFab 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ppl have no sense of irony anymore.

He was first called dictator, this is his humoristic response. Wake up!

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Putin was insanely popular in his country too, same as Kim jong un and bin Salman, they all have 100% approval rate, they most be awesome leaders

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[–] selffish 41 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (7 children)

This whole "democracy is colonialism" stuff needs to end lol

[–] AngryCommieKender 13 points 10 months ago

Especially since a decent portion of the US democracy was lifted straight out of the Six Nations. They straight up copied the Native Americans in the New England area of the country. Which is why when you look at the Greek version of Democracy, and the US version, there's a ton of differences

[–] Aceticon 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Bloody Ancient Athenians coming over here and taking our right to be governed by dictatum.

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[–] Siegfried 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's the first time I heard about that... is that a common nonsensical political trope?

[–] girthero 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Considering Latin America has had multiple coupes caused by the US I can see why their populace is bit suseptical to that sort of rhetoric.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago

Multiple coups, stolen elections, entire systems of control and oppression by American corporations (banana republics), etc.

In Cuba they literally went from super racist and clinging to Spain, to multicultural and trying to get independence from Spain, then back to Jim Crow type racism because of US influences.

Latin America also has a rich and beautiful history of democracy and relative cultural unity so it's still surprising to see all these dictators come to power. Almost every single country (if not every single one) that revolted against Spain from 1808-1825 ended up becoming a democracy. We need to put this thought at the forefront so as to avoid dictatorial strongmen.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

It pops up in countries that were historical targets of colonialism. Usually by the dictators who took over when the European power was kicked out.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

El Salvador’s El Presidente.

“The opposition will retire and may not be seen for a while.” - Tropico

[–] [email protected] 47 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)
[–] NateNate60 8 points 10 months ago

This is gold

[–] gmtom 40 points 10 months ago (14 children)

I fully expect to get downvoted for this but as much as im anti-dictator (like any normal person) you cannot deny he has objectively been a good thing for the country so far. He has decimated the gangs which has caused a 70% decrease in the homicide rate, going from the highest in the world to the lowest in Latin America. And him being talked as a "dictator" isnt really accurate either. He was elected Mayor of the capital at fist, was extremely popular so ran for president and won, democratically, in a landslide. And his policies, specifically with that gangs has kept him at a mind-boggling 90% approval rating, making him the most popular leader of any country, and he is running for re-election fairly and democratically, because why would he even need to rig the results when hes so insanely popular?

Yes there is Plenty you can criticise him for (being anti-aborition and anti-gay marriage for example) but in that regard he is no worse than any previous leader of the country.

[–] ralphio 40 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

He's not a dictator yet, but he'll have the opportunity to rewrite the constitution with the numbers his party will get in the next election. He seems to have signalled this is what he plans to do. Given his economic policies and the fact that he runs a police state (even if it was temporarily needed to get rid of gangs I doubt it will stop), he looks a lot like Pinochet which gives some people pause.

That said it's up to the people of El Salvador to decide if it's worth the risk to hand one party all the power.

Edit: current election not next election

[–] bigFab 11 points 10 months ago

Imagine the opposition was inviting gang leaders to decide what to do with the country.

That's what happened and it's documented in video.

Why would anybody vote for them?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Bunch of people in this comment thread have no idea what they are talking about. I have family in various parts of el Salvador and ever since bukele came into office politics is all they fucking talk about. It's actually quite annoying but the people there absolutely love him and his party. Maybe I am biased as I also have family that hold positions in nuevas ideas. Either way I don't think I've ever heard of a Salvadorean that didn't love the direction the country is going.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (31 children)

What the world really needs right now is another narcissistic dictator.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting 28 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Anyone who puts the words "coolest dictator" in a non satire publication needs to be stockaded

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

It’s what he calls himself on Twitter. I think it’s good for journalists to bring this cringe to light

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[–] xc2215x 23 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] gmtom 22 points 10 months ago

A candidate being so insanely popular the other parties dont stand a chance isnt really the same as a dictatorship.

[–] fluxion 14 points 10 months ago

And why does a guy with this much support feel compelled to do away with democracy in the first place? This dude is already neck-deep in some shit and is already working to undermine the eventual backlash.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago
[–] small44 13 points 10 months ago

He wants to be the only gang in Salvador

[–] Siegfried 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Salvador's millennial president

Are we the badies?

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[–] Ghostalmedia 8 points 10 months ago

Dude looks like the darkest timeline’s version of Johnathan from Queer Eye.

[–] Harbinger01173430 8 points 10 months ago

My latin American country needs someone like this dude to get rid of both local and foreign crime, which is going to run rampant at some point

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (7 children)

That would be the same El Salvador that's had the world's highest murder rate since I was a kid, would it?

Sounds like the "war on gangs" is just "replace them all with one big gang and put the leader in charge of the country".

But go back far enough and that's how a lot of countries became more than a bunch of local warlords fucking up each others shit.

[–] bigFab 7 points 10 months ago

The oposition literally invited the gangs to decide what to do with the country.

It's documented in video.

Study the case first before giving a strong opinion.

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