Q24N — Presidents Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina are united by conservative views of politics: both came to power using a strong discourse against the elites, and today, along with a disruptive personality, they coincide in their positions against the press and humanitarian organizations, according to analysts.
So far, both leaders have been seen together twice: the first meeting was in San Salvador, when Bukele assumed his second term in June of this year. The second occurred this week, with the Salvadoran’s visit to the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, where he was received by Milei and a large part of his cabinet.
The Salvadoran’s visit also led to the signing of agreements related to security, the economy, culture and nuclear energy.
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Read more: Bukele calls himself ‘The coolest dictator in the worldwide world ’ in his Twitter biography
Milei praises Bukele’s war against gangs and the reduction in the homicide rate in the Central American country. And he has given signs of wanting to replicate his model of incarceration and mega-prison in Argentina.
On the other hand, analysts believe that Milei has sought to respond with a story that his government is making history in economic matters, despite the fact that the data reflect an increase in the level of poverty.
The similarities
Polls say that Bukele is one of the most popular presidents in Latin America, with more than 80% approval in El Salvador.
Milei, although not close to Bukele’s popularity percentage, has made headlines for his controversial positions.
“There are certain ideological affinities, with a strong conservative tendency regarding issues of nation, ethical culture and other currents of Latin American thought such as progressive visions,” Eugenio Chicas, a Salvadoran lawyer and former magistrate, told the Voice of America.
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In his speech before the UN Assembly, Milei said that this organization left behind the principles of its foundation, and became a “Leviathan with multiple tentacles that seeks to decide not only what each nation-state should do, but also how all citizens of the world should live.”
A position that is similar to that of Bukele, who on other occasions has demanded that these organizations stay out of Salvadoran politics.
In 2019, when he made his debut as Salvadoran president before the UN, Bukele said: “The new world is no longer in this General Assembly,” and demanded that the bloc do things differently.
Today, it has been his most popular security policy, the regime of exception, which has led Bukele to clash with international human rights organizations.
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“They do not care about the death of honest people. They would only come to the defense of the murderer if the State does its job and takes him off the streets. Then they will come out to ask for good treatment and ‘reintegration’ for that disgusting rat,” Bukele said on August 11, 2023, on his X account.
El Salvador became the most violent country in the region with a rate of 105 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Today, its homicide rate is the lowest in the region with 2.4 homicides.
Despite the drastic measures, criticized by legal and human rights organizations, which have asked El Salvador to repeal this measure, it was during the Bukele government that the operations of the maras were dismantled, the main demand of the Salvadoran population.
Although security control against gangs poses much greater challenges than in Argentina, Milei has shown interest in this security model.
In mid-June, Argentina’s Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, was in El Salvador to learn about “the zero tolerance regime” that Bukele maintains against gangs, in an effort to “eradicate narcoterrorism” in that country.
Today, Milei’s government follows the rhetoric of its counterpart in El Salvador, highlighting provinces such as El Rosario, in Santa Fe, about 300 kilometers from Buenos Aires, with zero homicides. A milestone that he attributes to his alliances with Bukele.
Another of the similarities that unite the leaders is their way of communicating: via social networks and seeking a direct message with their citizens, without the intervention of the press.
Milei has called journalists “corrupt,” “enveloped” and “extortionists”; and has accused the media of having a “monopoly on microphones.”
In El Salvador, there is a constant “harassment of critical media,” says a report by Reporters Without Borders that placed the Central American country in position 133 out of 180 as one of the countries in which press freedom is under threat.
“Since he took office in June 2019, President Nayib Bukele has attacked and threatened journalists who are not aligned with his government,” the report states.
In addition, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) concluded that the Bukele government blocks access to public information, intimidates independent media and spies on journalists.
“If Bukele and Milei have anything in common, it is that constant attack on the press that oversees their governments,” Napoleon Campos, an expert in international politics, added to VOA.
Advantages of the alliance
But the closeness of their governments is not the only thing that unites these politicians. Bukele has said that he considers Milei his friend and now he hopes that he will also be his ally.
For Campos, this alliance makes more sense, because Bukele needs diplomatic alliances due to the circumstances in which he rose to power again.
In El Salvador, the continuous reelection of the president was prohibited by the Constitution. It was the intervention of the Supreme Court imposed by Bukele’s legislative group that gave the approval to his reelection.
Others consider that this alliance benefits him because El Salvador seeks to boost its economy in the next five years, something that Milei started with when he came to power.
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