This week, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele put on a masterclass in the new authoritarian normal—ramping up his crackdown on dissent while basking in the approval of his most powerful patron, Donald Trump. With the U.S. Senate now threatening sanctions over his government’s systematic attacks on opposition, journalists, and judges, Bukele doubled down—tightening surveillance, criminalizing protest, and flooding state media with tales of “national renewal” and “foreign threats” (Jamaica Gleaner, Bastille Post).
The regime’s crackdown isn’t just local theatre. As Americas Quarterly and El País detail, Bukele’s strategy of “delay, interfere, undermine” is reshaping the rules of Salvadoran politics, making it nearly impossible for the opposition to mount any real resistance. Meanwhile, the White House watches uneasily as Democratic senators draft sanctions bills, hoping to pressure Bukele out of Trump’s orbit—a hope that grows dimmer by the day.
And then there’s the MS-13 problem. Recent reporting from Latin Times and MSN alleges that Bukele’s government has cut clandestine deals with MS-13 gang leaders—using U.S. aid and backchannels to broker “peace” in ways that would make even his northern ally wince. These revelations could be a headache not just for Bukele, but for Trump, as investigations on both sides of the border threaten to expose a network of “law and order” built on secret bargains and selective justice (World Politics Review).
If this is the new model for U.S.-Latin America relations, it’s a grim one: populist leaders riding Washington’s culture wars to crack down at home, gamble with gangster deals, and dare the West to call their bluff. Bukele is betting that, in the age of strongmen, the optics of “security” will always trump the substance of democracy. For now, he’s winning—while El Salvador’s opposition is left with little more than hashtags and hope.