El Salvador: ‘the world’s coolest dictator’

El Salvador’s murder rate is down from 50 per 100,000 people to only 7.8 per 100,000 people killed annually.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, pictured in 2016 when he was mayor of San Salvador, in front of a banner that reads 'ruling with the people,' in Spanish. He is a populist icon throughout Latin America, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photograph courtesy of Presidencia El Salvador on Flickr

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

August 2, 2023

LONDON, U.K.—“It's not perfect, but it's good. We've done something really good here,” said El Salvador’s vice president, Felix Ulloa, defending the government’s no-quarter war against the street gangs that have dominated the Central American republic for decades. ...

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