WRITING.- “I am not a dictator,” said the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, before tens of thousands of sports fans, during the opening ceremony of the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games.
“They say we live in a dictatorship”, but “ask the bus passengers; go to a restaurant and ask the diners, the waiters. Ask whoever you want. Here in El Salvador they can go anywhere. It is totally safe… Ask them what they think of El Salvador, what they think of this government, of the supposed dictatorship”, said the Salvadoran president.
The comment was greeted with a roar of applause, with sections of the remodeled stadium chanting “Reelection!”
The Games have offered Bukele a chance to showcase a safer El Salvador at the biggest international event here since his government engaged in all-out war with gangs. But the competitions are also taking place at a time when Bukele faces accusations of systematic human rights violations from that same crackdown and as his government takes steps to undermine the country’s democracy.
