No. Believe it or not, he has a lot of domestic support due to his (extrajudicial) crackdown on gang violence over the last few years. I don't support his methods, but it's hard to argue that El Salvador isn't safer for most Salvadorans these days.

[–] joostjakob@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Totally agree, I just wonder if they consider being illegally imprisoned by their own government as an element of personal safety

[–] Lumiluz@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You really don't understand how bad the gang violence was there. My family couldn't go anymore for years because it was just too dangerous. Buses or businesses would get burned just about every single week because the owner couldn't pay "protection money". And then there was the coercion of teens to join the gangs while still in school, particularly outside Aguilares and San Salvador.

El Salvador hasn't been this safe in maybe 25 years, before mara salvatrucha. People there have only known violence, misery, and poverty for so long that this level of stability is worth the price to them.

It doesn't help that the USA has a history of "couping" the presidents that don't listen to it. That's how the US dollar was in part forced on the economy, to the detriment of the people there.

Bukele isn't completely stupid, and Trump of all people wouldn't hesitate to have him have an "accident" if he started being defiant now.

Ultimately, a boycott won't do shit because the people there have gone through much worse, for generations now. All they've known is getting fucked over by Americans, so a boycott would be nothing new to them. It wouldn't be as bad as the American military going in to kill dissenters, again.

[–] joostjakob@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I do understand where the policy is coming from. And it's one thing doing it as an emergency measure. It's another to just accept it as "the way we do things now" and let the president keep this much power. This will obviously all end in tears, unless the country works towards an exit strategy yesterday. It would help if a non-fascist US government would assist them with that without threatening to coup them.

[–] SwordandArt@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

This is the kind of shit so much of the US population has no clue about because it is highly repressed by the government. There is a reason this current administration wants to make it illegal to criticize the government