“The queens are here, today you take the king”, dice a journalists Yesenia Egli, the woman behind the Messi’s landing in El Salvador. The CEO of the production company Meta Show Entertainment was referring to the last two mega events that El Salvador hosted.
However, Egli doesn’t plan to stop there. “It is on our table to soon take Barcelona, Real Madrid, teams from Mexico, other clubs. Also the NBA,” he told reporters.
None of this would have been possible a few years ago. Egli highlights that the factor “security” It has been decisive in being able to carry out the management.
Although the truth is that murder rates were already falling during the president’s administration. Salvador Sánchez Cerénthe most dramatic decline occurred with the rise to power of Nayib Bukele.
An investigation of the digital medium The lighthouse attributed that initial drop to secret negotiations between Bukele and the country’s main gangs. When that pact did not work – on a vindictive weekend in 2022, MS-13 massacred 87 people in response to a “betrayal” by the authorities – the president resorted to his Exception status.
At the cost of the suspension of constitutional guarantees of the right to defense and mass arrests, even of young people not related to gangs in poor areas, homicide numbers plummeted. With a rate of 2.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in September 2023.
“Bukele has an outstanding ability to ensure that not-so-good things go unnoticed or are not felt in the short term. During the state of emergency there have been very serious abuses by the state but he has known how to handle the communication aspect extremely well,” he points out in dialogue with the newspaper. THE NATION the Salvadoran political scientist Manuel Melendez Sánchez.
At the same time, the government of President Bukele began to promote tourism through sportmainly surfing due to the natural conditions of the country.
In an interview with Bloomberg Line In 2022, the Minister of Tourism, Morena Valdez, detailed the bets that her portfolio had to attract foreigners, boost the economy, change the perception of insecurity and win back those who migrated; all through the waves and the Surf City project, which consisted of adding curious Americanism to traditional beaches in the center of the country.
Salvadoran Pacific beach
“He is very effective in convincing people of the good he does. “He loves pompous ads like Surf City or Bitcoin City,” Tiziano Breda, former researcher at the International Crisis Group, tells this medium.
This central commitment to surfing soon expanded. Last year the country sponsored the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games and also the renowned contest of miss Universe. The arrival of the number one in world football to El Salvador only crowns an effort by the government of several years.
Some of the Miss Universe 2023 contestants
However, many have pointed out Bukele for doing “Sportswashing” or “sports washing” with these mega events and thus hide an underlying dark reality behind this supposed success story. The truth is that just as its security results have attracted international attention, so have its controversial methods. The president faces accusations of systematic human rights violations for that same repression while his government has been questioned for several measures that have undermined the country’s democracy. The most latent example, perhaps, has been the blows to justice that paved his way to re-election, something that at least until recently was prohibited by the Constitution.
“He Sportwashing It is a classic strategy of authoritarian regimes. There are cases as recent as the World Cup in Qatar or the Olympic Games in Beijing. These events are very important within Bukele’s speech because They allow you to sell this vision of a modern countrywhich, as he has said, is among the best in the world and can attract the most beautiful people in the world with Miss Universe and the greatest athletes in history,” argues Melendez.
Bukele took advantage of taking “the photo” with Messi
Bukele has taken note of the criticism and has defended himself. “They say we live in a dictatorship,” he declared during the opening ceremony of the Central American and Caribbean Games. “But ask the bus passengers; Go to a restaurant and ask the diners, the waiters. Ask whoever you want. Here in El Salvador they can go anywhere. It’s totally safe! “Ask them what they think of El Salvador, what they think of this government, of the supposed dictatorship,” he declared in front of the crowd, which chanted “Re-election!”.
The fervor that Bukele arouses has not diminished despite his authoritarian character. The latest surveys show that the candidate sweeps with 89.9% voting intention ahead of the elections that will be held on February 4. The next candidate, from the FMLN, gathers only 3.7% and the third, from Arena, 3.4%.
“Bukele is very good at polarizing, and according to his story, anyone who is not with him is with the gangs”concludes Breda.
However, a certain climate of concern is perceived, especially in relation to the arbitrary arrests, says Melendez, who observed an increase in groups of men walking the streets accompanied in certain areas of El Salvador. Along these lines, a survey by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (Lapop) suggests that the level of fear of expressing political opinions has increased from 40.6 in 2018 to 54.7 in 2023.