[neither_color]

El Salvador(central america) was in a bloody civil war between socialist rebels and the US-backed government in the 80s. The tactics taught to the Salvadorian forces by the US are considered controversial and some "incidents" may have happened.

Thousands of refugees fled into poor neighborhoods in the US where Mexican and other American gangs already existed and this led to the formation of MS-13, a notorious organization. Over the years thousands of MS-13 gang members were deported or traveled back to El Salvador and became prolific throughout the country. When the civil war ended, the rebels became a political party(FMLN). Both parties traded presidencies over the years but due to poverty and post-war devastation were very ineffective at combatting gang violence, running the economy, and maintaining public order.

Bukele, a descendant of Palestinian immigrants from the former Ottoman empire -an ethnic group long discriminated against and held back from holding public office in El Salvador- is part of a new party called Nuevas Ideas.

This new democratically elected third party won a majority of its government seats and the presidency but is not well liked by the Biden administration. It has been accused of "subverting democracy" for replacing judges accused of corruption and of violating the human rights of gangsters who by definition have to commit a violent crime to initiate into the gang and are pledged to it for life. He's achieved this by doing broad roundups of hundreds of gangsters at a time. This is considered controversial by first worlders who aren't familiar with having a crime syndicate in every town and nearly every street and what kind of wartime-like operation it would take to address that. Violence is at a historic low, below what can be attributed to a downtrend. The Salvadorian response to COVID was also exceptional among its neighbors, far beyond what can be attributed to accidentally getting it right. Anyways that's my perspective. It's a bit biased but not one I see regularly so I'm just doing my part to show how central Americans might see it.

[jinpa_zangpo]

If you only follow the US press, you haven't heard of the following scandal surrounding the US Embassy in El Salvador.

Last year (2021) two deputies of Bukele's New Ideas party, José García and Gerardo Aguilar, were caught on audio tape discussing with Roy Garcia, a representative of some El Salvadoreans living abroad who was trying to form a new party, how the United States embassy was offering money to induce 20 members of the New Ideas party to leave and join his new party. The US embassy denied the plan existed, but the two deputies were expelled from El Salvador's assembly. The US ambassador to El Salvador, Jean Manes, left her position shortly after the scandal became known.