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Nayib Bukele is now going against corruption.
By Roberto Morejón
The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, completed four years in office wrapped in paradoxes, because his critics increase while citizens ponder the drop in the homicide rate.
As he enters his last year, the ruler clinging to social networks presents as his main triumph the relentless confrontation with gang members.
Supported by an endless extension of the state of emergency, protected by the Congress controlled by the ruling party, the authorities have accumulated the chilling figure of 69 thousand arrests, all criminals, according to the discourse of power.
However, what the government is hailing as a passionate conquest is seen by opposition sectors and human rights organizations inside and outside El Salvador as a ruthless offensive, without make-up.
A sweeping report by the Non-Governmental Organization Cristosal soured the fourth anniversary of the Head of State's ordinance.
The document exposed that at least 160 detainees died in state custody and identified patterns of deaths described as torture.
In the midst of the frenzied march against criminals, whose photos in a purpose-built super-prison generate astonishment, a new crusade will be launched.
This time it will be against corruption, announced Bukele, who said he will order the construction of another prison.
With these cards in hand and the announcement of a law to reduce municipalities, which in principle could affect the opposition, the president is preparing to fight for his reelection, questioned by his contenders.
The Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho affirmed that the ruling enabling Bukele's candidacy for reelection lacks legitimacy, since it is constitutionally prohibited.
It is not yet known the explanation of the ruler before the figures provided by a survey of the Central Reserve Bank, in which it is stated that poverty increased in El Salvador in 2022, when 26.6 percent of the families presented this condition, two percent more than in 2021.
In a country where citizens overwhelmingly rejected the government's adoption of bitcoins as currency, it does not seem that Bukele can wield the economy as a bulwark of his administration.
To circle around the anti-gang war as his main thesis seems to be a double-edged sword that will force him to avoid innumerable accusers.