El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is set to meet President Trump at the White House, highlighting his status as a key ally in Trumpâs anti-immigration agenda. Bukele has aggressively deported alleged gang members to El Salvador, with significant criticism regarding human rights violations and due process. Since his election in 2019, he has taken drastic measures against gang violence, resulting in mass arrests and a controversial state of emergency. While he faces condemnation for authoritarianism, his reduction of homicide rates has earned admiration from some regional leaders, including Trump.
"Under Bukele, El Salvador has become the newest autocracy in the Americas," said Noah Bullock, Executive Director at Cristosal, a Salvadoran human rights NGO.
Despite being widely condemned for rights abuses, many in the Americasâincluding President Trumpâadmire Bukele for successfully reducing the number of homicides in a country that for years had one of the highest murder rates in the entire world.
Bukele is one of Trump's most crucial regional allies and no one has embraced his anti-immigration policies as enthusiastically.
Bukele was first elected president in 2019 after a campaign focused on combating corruption. In 2022, he declared a state of emergency to tackle gang crime.
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