Despite the constitutional ban, but with broad popular support and demands for the economic situation of the country, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, was inaugurated this Saturday by Congress for a second consecutive term for the period 2024-2029.
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During a private event, without access to the public, and broadcast on a national network, in which only the king of Spain, Felipe VI, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, other leaders, the family and close friends of Bukele, were present, "Yes, I swear" Bukele responded to the swearing in by the leader of the Legislative Assembly, Ernesto Castro.
Bukele thus becomes the first president of the democratic stage of El Salvador to assume for a second consecutive period, after decades of military dictatorship and a 12-year civil war (1980-1992).
For this reason, various political and social actors in El Salvador have stated that they do not recognize the legality or legitimacy of Bukele’s second term as contrary to the Constitution.
His participation in the February elections, which obtained more than 85% of valid votes, came after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, elected by the 2021-2024 legislature without following the established legal process, to issue an act changing the interpretation of the Constitution.
With the problem of security solved momentarily, the main citizens' concerns shift into the economy, at a time when more than a quarter of Salvadorans live in poverty and unemployment is increasing. About it, Nayib Bukele promised this Saturday in his inauguration speech to "heal" the economy after curing the country from the "cancer" of violence, generated mainly by gang groups.
"Now that we have sorted out the most urgent thing, which was security, we are going to focus fully on the important problems, starting with the economy," Bukele said to hundreds of people, including special guests and followers, from the centennial National Palace box, in the heart of the Salvadoran capital.
She said that "Salvadoran society is still sick, but no longer has cancer" and that "it is still sick of the other things it has always had", because "the country has been cured of gangs and now wants to be cured of the bad economy."
Economists say the government faces a difficult balancing act to reduce the national debt without cutting much-needed social benefits for the country’s poorest while the president’s highly publicized plans for Bitcoin City, a tax-free crypto haven powered by geothermal energy from a volcano, have failed to gain momentum and private investment has tumbled.