President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele defended himself this week against attacks from US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and progressive megadonor George Soros, both of whom claim that the tough-on-crime central American leader is an anti-democratic authoritarian deserving of interventionist action. These attacks have come just days away from El Salvador’s presidential election, which Bukele is set to win easily with massive public support.
On Wednesday, Ilhan Omar announced that she led several Democratic members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to take action on the “threats to democracy” allegedly occurring in El Salvador.
“The State Dept must review its relationship with El Salvador and defend democratic values,” she wrote. “The Salvadoran people deserve free and fair elections without fear of repression.”
I led Members of Congress in sending a letter to @SecBlinken urging action on threats to democracy in El Salvador.
The State Dept must review its relationship with El Salvador and defend democratic values. The Salvadoran people deserve free and fair elections without fear of…
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) January 31, 2024
She linked to a blog post on the House of Representatives’ website containing the letter as well as language on Bukele and his ongoing state of emergency, which has resulted in the mass jailing of MS-13 gang members and a precipitous drop in homicides. Omar and her colleagues claim that El Salvador is suffering a surge of human rights violations during its state of emergency, which has led to the jailing of Americans without due process and “has also served as a smokescreen for the targeted harassment of political opponents of the government, human rights defenders, environmental activists, and others.”
They claimed that Bukele’s second term would be “unconstitutional” due to the gang-related state of emergency. Furthermore, they allege that Bukele has crushed “dissent” and imprisoned political opponents. Bukele is running for re-election despite the fact that El Salvador’s constitution prohibits it. To justify his actions, he said that “developed countries” permit re-election campaigns and so he will seek one too.
Related: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Slams Western NGOs, Clinton Administration in New Speech
In response, X users fact-checked Omar’s accusations with a Community Note, clarifying that Bukele won the majority of votes in a democratic election and currently enjoys a 90 percent approval rating.
Bukele himself responded too: “We are HONORED to receive your attacks, just days before OUR election,” he wrote. “I would be very worried if we had your support. Thank you.”
We are HONORED to receive your attacks, just days before OUR election.
I would be very worried if we had your support.
Thank you 🙏🏼 https://t.co/7V5a0AdpCV
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 31, 2024
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In a follow-up post, Bukele mocked Omar’s call for free and fair elections by retorting that it is the US that needs them, possibly alluding to the mail-in balloting fiasco of the 2020 presidential election or the ongoing legal prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Bukele has also been knocking globalist billionaire George Soros, whose various outlets have allegedly been attacking his administration. These include El Faro and Factum Magazine, which are reportedly funded by Soros’ Open Society Foundation and have been pumping out reports intended to discredit him.
“Soros’ pack of “journalists” have been released, just in the week before the elections,” Bukele wrote. “But they say they do journalism and not a political campaign for the opposition.”
Se ha soltado la jauría de “periodistas” de Soros, justo en la semana antes de las elecciones.
Pero ellos dicen que hacen periodismo y no campaña política para la oposición 🤷🏻♂️
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 30, 2024
“All those media outlets, financed by Open Society (Soros), that are publishing these “reports”, coordinated to come out just the week before the elections;” he wrote in a different X post. “They only show that these supposed “journalists” are nothing more than political activists.”
Bukele is not shy about his legacy and regularly defends his state of emergency declaration, which has allowed him to jail gang members without court approval. “Strong men create good times,” he tweeted last September. Government data indicated that April 2023 was the safest month in El Salvador’s history.
El Salvador’s presidential election is scheduled for Sunday, February 4th. Bukele is projected to win in a landslide, specifically due to his crackdown on the nation’s gangs according to polls.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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