(RepublicanJournal.org) – In February, El Salvadorans traveled to the polls to vote for the nation’s next leader. President Nayib Bukele easily won a second term, securing 85% of the vote, which will see him lead the nation for the next five years. However, not everyone is happy about his win. The country’s National Police have reportedly broken up a plot to bomb several locations in the country on the days of Bukele’s inauguration.
President Bukele is due to be sworn into office on Saturday, June 8. The National Police recently revealed that there was a plot to set off explosives during this time. They posted pictures of sacks of ammonium nitrate and small bombs with fuses they seized on their social media. The targets were widespread and reportedly included supermarkets, gas stations, and government buildings.
Authorities have a specific suspect in mind, too: the Salvadoran Insurrection Brigade. They detained José Santos Melara, a former congressman who belongs to the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). He is accused of financing the attacks. The Block of Popular Resistance and Rebellion accused authorities of arresting him as “an act of political persecution.” Seven others are also in custody.
Some speculate that Bukele is endangering the country’s democracy, which was established after the civil war that occurred from 1980 to 1992. Not only has he jailed 1% of the country’s population, he’s also gone after his critics and approved reforms that saw the number of congressional seats slashed. That latter move heavily weighted the elections in his favor. His party won the supermajority, which means his actions will largely run unchecked.
Bukele was once part of the FMLN before he was expelled in 2017, two years before he first took office in 2019. During his reign, he suspended civil rights, which allowed for the arrest of 80,000 citizens in the country.
The president’s second term is controversial as it was constitutionally prohibited until a 2021 court decision.
Copyright 2024, RepublicanJournal.org
