Incumbent President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, was inaugurated for his second term on Saturday, June 1st. Political leaders from around the world were in attendance, including notable figures from the US: Donald Trump Jr., Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Tucker Carlson. Other world leaders, such as Spanish King Felipe VI and Argentina President Javier Milei, also attended.

Javier Milei arrived in spectacular fashion with ceremonial guards aligned alongside the red carpet flowing from his presidential airplane.

El Salvadoran authorities announced on Friday that they had uncovered a plot by leftist guerrilla groups to plant bombs around the country, intended to disrupt the inauguration ceremony.

Bukele has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses. In a statement issued by humanitarian organization Amnesty International, representative Ana Piquer stated, “We are deeply concerned by how respect for and protection of human rights have eroded under the Nayib Bukele administration and by the likelihood that they will continue to erode at an even greater pace during his second term.” The statement accused Bukele of distorting public information, “militarizing public security,” and engaging in “mass arrests and imprisonment as the sole strategies for counteracting violence in the country.”

Since Bukele took office in July 2019, the number of homicides fell from 2,398 for 2019 to just 154 in 2023. This represents a 94 percent reduction in homicide over most of his first term. While international organizations like Amnesty International criticize Bukele, the El Salvadoran people overwhelmingly voted in favor of his leadership. Bukele earned his second term with 84.7 percent of the vote, and his party that he founded gained a supermajority in Congress, according to an AP report.

Bukele has frequently made headlines in his first term, from launching a bribery purge aimed at his executive branch to making bitcoin legal tender. With his political power being more firmly rooted following his reelection, we will see what that means for the El Salvadoran people in the coming years.

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