The Bukele Option
15th May 2024
The problem with Britain is that it doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t control its borders, it doesn’t enforce its laws, it doesn’t build anything. It’s not only a British problem or even Britain’s only problem, but there is something essentially British about it. On the Left and the Right, government apparatchiks, political parties, and lawmakers are all conservative—in the worst sense of the word. Given a free hand, the Leftist gender radicals and the right-wing Tories would have us living in the same sprawling favelas, bulging obscenely with ever-growing human capital and dominated by a small number of American corporations. But in recent times an unlikely figure, the president of El Salvador, has remade the rules on getting things done—and he should be looked to for inspiration.
Nayib Bukele, the 42-year-old President of El Salvador, came to power in June 2019—just six months after Boris Johnson won a landslide victory in the UK promising to reduce immigration, freeze taxes, and boost the NHS. Bukele’s problems were of a different sort. He inherited the responsibility for one of the most dangerous countries in the world, ravaged by gang violence, plagued by poverty, and riddled with corruption. But his approach to taking issues head-on, and winning, should be instructive.
Within days of his inauguration, Bukele initiated his ‘Territorial Control Plan.’ It began almost immediately with the deployment of thousands of soldiers and police officers to problem areas. An organised crime think tank called InSight Crime said at the time that Bukele’s policies would result in “few successes” and “gangs becoming stronger.” Think tanks shouldn’t be listened to. Bukele’s forces would eventually surround and extract the gang members from their strongholds, in a series of mass arrests which have seen more than 76,000 people thrown in jail.