Blog on the Latin American Security Landscape: Bukele’s State of Emergency in El Salvador

On February 4th, El Salvador held its general elections, marking a historic occasion as the first since the era of military dictatorships in the 20th century to transpire amidst a declared state of emergency. The incumbent Salvadoran President and unconstitutional presidential candidate, Nayib Bukele, declared himself the victor, claiming an 85% share of the total votes and at least 58 out of the 60 available General Assembly seats for his party, Nuevas Ideas. His "Iron Fist" policy on gang violence and its impressive results are the main source of Bukele’s popularity. In turn, this popularity has stifled any opposition to the growing dominance of the executive power over the legislative and judicial branches. 

In a blog entry, Viviana García Pinzón and José Salguero argue that at the core of Bukele’s concentration of power lies a security strategy of coercive pacification and the instrumentalization of fear. They rivisit pivotal developments of autocratization and examine the role of security policy and the state of exception. 

The blog entry can be read on the website Urban Violence.