Amid criticism over his war on gangs, Salvadoran President Bukele turns to sports

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele stood before tens of thousands of cheering sports fans with a message: I am not a dictator.

They say we live in a dictatorship, Bukele said, but ask bus passengers, people eating in restaurants, waiters. Ask whoever you want. Here in El Salvador you can go anywhere and it’s completely safe. Ask them what they think of El Salvador, what they think of our government, what they think of our supposed dictatorship.

During the opening ceremonies of the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, the remark was met with a round of applause and, in parts of the renovated stadium, re-election chants!

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The games offered Bukele, the 41-year-old bitcoin push leader who has sparked a kind of populist fervor in his Central American country and beyond, the chance to showcase a safer El Salvador in the most major international event here since his government entered an all-out gang war. But the competition also comes as Bukele is accused of systematic human rights abuses for the same crackdown and his government takes steps that are eating away at the country’s democracy.

Observers fear the events, including the games drawing athletes from 35 countries in the region, will allow Bukele to save face internationally and show voters he has global support as he seeks to be re-elected despite a constitutional ban for terms longer than five years.

Often called sportswashing, the use of sport to divert attention from controversy and improve reputations amid wrongdoing, the tactic has been used by autocratic governments around the world for decades. The accusation was recently brought against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his investment in golf, the World Cup and other international sporting events.

These are events that give oxygen to the government to divert attention from the huge problems we have and show a face of modernity to the world, said Eduardo Escobar, executive director of Accin Ciudadana, an independent political watchdog group. in El Salvador.

Just over a year ago, Bukele announced that the nation would enter a state of emergency, a measure suspending constitutional rights in a bid to deal with rising gang violence.

Since then, the government has detained 70,000 people, about one in every hundred Salvadorans, imprisoning them with little access to due process. The government labeled them as gang members, although only 30% had clear gang ties, according to estimates by human rights group Cristosals.

These measures have drawn an avalanche of international criticism, including from the Biden administration.

Simultaneously, crime in El Salvador fell to historic lows and Bukeles’ approval soared, holding at 90% in June, according to a CID Gallup poll. Bukeleism has gained ground from Colombia to Guatemala and the Dominican Republic as politicians seek to emulate it and take advantage of its popularity.

The plunge into violence has opened the door for his government to hold events including the games and the upcoming Miss Universe pageant. The games’ opening ceremonies displayed the country’s newfound status, with dances led by an AI robot voice and a performance by American DJ Marshmello.

For Sel Ramirez, a Salvadoran who spent decades jumping between his country and the United States after fleeing civil war in the 1990s, it was like seeing a whole new country. He is among many here embracing the fervor of Bukele, he sometimes even dresses up as the president and walks around the city center.

After Bukeles’ opening speech, Ramirez stood outside the stadium with a crowd waiting for the leaders to exit – a scene similar to those at Taylor Swift concerts. Yet a few steps away are heavily armed soldiers and black armored cars with machine guns on top.

I wonder if the hell would give me his autograph, Ramirez thought, his eyes glued to the door the president would walk away from later.

As the crowd waited, Defense Minister Ren Merino walked out to cheers. El Salvador is a country at peace, he told The Associated Press. We are open to the world. Asked by the AP about those imprisoned, he said no and walked away.

Before the games, the Bukeles government cut 70% of publicly elected positions, reducing the number of seats in Congress and in local governments. Bukele said the cuts would improve efficiency and crack down on corruption, the same reasons given for emptying Salvadoran courts in 2021.

Legal experts and other Salvadoran politicians say these are just the final stages of a conquest aimed at consolidating power ahead of elections in February.

This is typical of autocratic governments, said Ren Hernndez Valiente, former head of the country’s Constitutional Court. They erase the philosophies of our constitution.

The move will strengthen Bukeles’ control of Congress by 22%, according to estimates by watchdog group Accin Ciudadana. Other candidates told AP it left them in the lurch by revamping the rules months before the vote.

The Bukeles party, Nuevas Ideas, announced on Twitter that it would seek re-election days in the games. It was an early but controversial decision. In the tweet, at 1 a.m. local time, the party declared itself invincible.

In the days that followed, Bukeles’ Twitter account was his favorite medium, and a place where he once described himself as the world’s coolest dictator posted videos of football matches, photos of tanned surfers and excerpts from his opening speech. He has published little about his re-election campaign.

The rise of social media has made it harder for leaders to portray major sporting events as apolitical, but sportswashing generally works because sporting events are both highly visible and seen as a distraction from everyday issues and politics. , said Alan McDougall, sports historian at the University of Guelph in Canada.

Successfully staging an international event can give a regime the confidence to act somewhat with impunity. Sport is a bit of a shortcut to winning yourself, not even popularity, just acceptance, said McDougall, who dates the use of athletics as a political tool to the 1930s, when an Italy ruled by Mussolini hosted the World Cup and the Olympics. took place in Nazi Germany.

And while many in El Salvador are celebrating a new reality marked by roaring stadiums and fireworks, those suffering amid Bukeles’ crackdown feel forgotten by the rest of their country.

Among them is activist and union leader Ingrid Escobar, 40. When she left home one day in late June with her two children to run errands, she saw men waiting outside in a gray truck that criminologists later identified as the one used by security forces. government security. The sight has become familiar over the past three months. So, too, has fear.

Trade unions, human rights groups, opposition politicians, researchers and journalists said that as the election cycle heats up, the Bukeles government has stepped up its intimidation tactics. A union of civil servants says at least 15 organizers have been arrested, accused of disturbing public order and having links with gangs. About half are still imprisoned, according to the union.

The fear we have is that they will be the next ones he arrests when he has never broken the law, Escobar said. And for no other reason do we denounce the government, for being the voice of people who are too afraid to speak out.

Bukele said hell would open a new prison for the corrupt, a label he often uses to refer to opponents. Escobar worries that it might mean her. She says she received death threats on social media. She now uses different vehicles, takes different routes to get to work. She fears for her children and tries to protect them.

That morning, she took a picture of the truck’s license plate and sent it to a colleague. Her kids asked why, and she lied: Oh, because I like the car.

Miles away, gymnasts flipped in front of judges, swimmers dived from starting blocks and runners jumped hurdles in the same stadium where Bukele gave his speech.

Few knew about the drastic changes the leader was making around them or the fears of everyday people like Escobar.

I’ve heard a little about it, said Francisco Acua, a 23-year-old gymnast from Costa Rica. But I don’t really think about politics.

AP journalist Salvador Melendez contributed to this report.

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