The idyll was over. Two years after coming to power, this Wednesday thousands of people took to the streets of San Salvador to shout enough against a president, Nayib Bukele, whom polls continue to place at the highest level. with a popularity by which he would kill any Latin American president — but who today faced his most powerful act of repudiation.
Between 5,000 and 8,000 people starred in the largest demonstration since coming to power in 2019. Beyond the number of people, Bukele was defeated in two scenarios in which he had no rival so far: the street and the Nets. The call became a trend from the previous day and ended with silence after several months of controversial reforms that have provoked rejection at home and abroad; from the United States, who compared him to Hugo Chávez, at the United Nations, who called for respect for judicial independence.
the Savior
El Salvador should have celebrated this September 15 the 200th anniversary of its independence. Everything was ready for a party of white and blue flags, anthems and fireworks, but the most urgent reality prevailed over the canned speeches and broke the presidential narrative. Popular fatigue ended up setting fire to the bitcoin cash register in the center of the capital, a few meters from the National Palace, a symbol of the imposition of digital currency as the official currency.
Beyond the number of protesters, this is the first major protest against Bukele, 40, which continues to maintain popularity levels above 80%. The decision to impose bitcoin, however, has much less support, close to 53% according to the Central American University (UCA).
“Bitcoin was the drop that spilled the glass, but we’ve been months of destroying democracy,” said 49-year-old Betsi Gaviria. She and her friend Leticia Guala, 58, are wearing a T-shirt with a huge striped B with a red stripe as a sign of rejection in digital currency. “We reject re-election and oppose the dictatorship, but when they put their hand in your pocket people jump. People are waking up,” they said as they walked around Cuscatlán Park. “I’m surprised by the number of people, but there are many of us who are fed up with corruption and that everything is getting more expensive every day,” said a 50-year-old woman and civil servant who carried a card with the phrase “No to the dictatorship “. “It took a lot of lives to bring the democracy that now treads happily, but people have taken the blindfold off. We are more than 3%,” he said in surprise at the flood of protesters.
In recent times the president has replaced the Constitutional Chamber with like-minded magistrates, dismissed judges over 60, dismissed the attorney general, pushed for a constitutional reform that would allow his re-election, his pact with the violent gangs to pacify the country, imposed a new currency and announced its intention to double the size of the Army. And all in four months. “Bukele follows the same booklet as Chávez, but in record time,” said José Manuel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch. Less sophisticated, but more graphic, an old man summed up the discontent with a handwritten phrase: “The Savior is not your estate.”
In a country of less than 7 million people unaccustomed to protesting in the streets, among the most veterans there was the feeling of living a protest from another time, when the country ended the 1990s civil war. which left 75,000 dead and a huge polarization that prevented both sides from walking together. On this occasion, the march brought together sectors as diverse as students, feminists, provida groups, trade unionists and supporters of the FLMN and Arena, the two traditional parties swept off the map by Bukele in the February elections.
A psychology student who preferred not to give his name said that “the combination of such diverse people is what has made this protest a success.” “People are tired of a populist and are afraid of losing their savings or pensions because they will be paid in bitcoin,” he explained. The 22-year-old carries a banner that reads “Bukele, here we are all blocking on Twitter.” “Why don’t I want to give my name? Because I don’t know what retaliation is going to take. We are living the militarization of the country and the implementation of fear and control systems. We already saw how they arrested Mario Gómez and there fear that the hunt will continue, “he said in reference to a young computer systems expert arrested two weeks ago after criticizing the arrival of bitcoin on television.
This Wednesday’s demonstration incorporated fear as a new ingredient. A couple of seemingly minor details reveal the atmosphere: most of the interviewees preferred not to give their name and the same number marched with their faces covered with masks, sunglasses and caps for fear of photographs. Some rallies called on protesters to carry umbrellas to avoid being shot by drones.
Except for the burning of the bitcoin cashier the protest passed without incident although unidentified groups dressed in black and wearing baseball bats circled the site. Around 1 pm, local time, under the intense Central American heat, the demonstration ended in the Plaza Morazán in the capital. In recent years this square has been filled twice: the first was during the canonization of Monsignor Romero and the second during the overwhelming victory of Bukele in 2019. Those who now do not want to see it even in painting were surprised on seeing-crowded for the third time.
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