Nayib Bukele

Nayib Bukele was elected El Salvador's president in 2019 and won re-election in 2024 despite a constitution that, at the time of his first campaign, was widely understood to bar consecutive terms; the country's Bukele-aligned Supreme Court reinterpreted the rule in 2021 to permit his candidacy. He has governed under a continuously renewed state of emergency since March 2022, suspending certain due-process rights to carry out mass arrests targeting gang membership.

The crackdown has produced one of the highest incarceration rates in the world and a dramatic reduction in homicides, driving genuinely high domestic approval ratings. Human Rights Watch has documented thousands of arbitrary detentions and dozens of deaths in custody amid the mass-arrest campaign, while Bukele's supporters credit the policy with restoring basic public safety after decades of gang violence.