El Salvador’s status as a democracy is becoming an increasingly debated subject. Still, the nation did produce legitimate democratic results on February 4th 2024, when thousands of citizens reaffirmed their support for President Nayib Bukele, who captured 83% of the vote. Given these legitimate results, why are so many accusing El Salvador of undergoing democratic backsliding as a result of Bukele’s leadership? To answer this question, one must look past the validity of recent electoral results and analyze Bukele’s actions since he entered office as president in 2019. Under President Bukele, El Salvador has undergone democratic backsliding through Bukele’s use of stealth authoritarian tactics, which have included drawing on judicial review to synthesize power and surveillance laws to stamp out opposition and curtail civil liberties.
Before explaining Bukele’s actions and their impact on El Salvador’s democracy, it is first important to define what stealth authoritarianism is. In an article on the subject in Iowa Law Review, law professor Ozan O. Varol defines stealth authoritarianism as “the use of legal mechanisms that exist in regimes with favorable democratic credentials for anti-democratic means” (1684). In other words, stealth authoritarianism entails the use of legal means for anti-democratic ends. The use of legal means in specific lends would-be autocrats a degree of legitimacy to their actions, despite their ultimate goals being to consolidate their own power and dismantle democracy.
One stealth authoritarian tactic utilized by President Bukele that has caused democratic backsliding would be his regime’s use of judicial review in order to consolidate power. In May 2021, Bukele’s party Nuevas Ideas, having just recently secured a legislative majority in the Assembly, initiated the process to gain control over judicial review when they voted out all of El Salvador’s Supreme Court’s constitutional court justices as well as the nation’s Attorney General. A month later, Nuevas Ideas politicians then installed five new justices of the Supreme Court in a process that, according to Human Rights Watch, occurred “in violation of the process set out in the Constitution.” Not only that, but Bukele’s supporters in the Assembly later passed legislation that removed any justice that was 60 years or older from their position. As a result of the capture of judicial review by stealth authoritarians, the judiciary is “structured to generate substantive outcomes that favor regime interests” (Varol 688). This is precisely what has occurred in El Salvador, as the installation of legal officials sympathetic to the policy platform of Nuevas Ideas and the Bukele regime has allowed for a further consolidation and extension of Bukele’s power. For example, the Supreme Court has utilized judicial review to allow Bukele to run for a consecutive term, despite that being barred by El Salvador’s constitution. Furthermore, newly instituted judges across the country have helped incarcerate 75,000 inmates in trials that have lacked due process and where judges are allowed to hide their identities. Another byproduct of these actions was the virtual stamping out of all opposition within El Salvador’s judicial institutions. Many of the ousted officials represent an opposing force to Bukele’s regime and a few of them were taking outright action against the president before being removed. Former Attorney General Raúl Melara, for example, was leading investigations into Bukele’s regime excessively profiting off of the pandemic before being ousted. In drawing on the power of judicial review, Bukele has managed to extend his power over all branches of government in the goal of promoting his programs unopposed.
Bukele has used other tactics of stealth authoritarianism, including questionable surveillance laws. Early signs of El Salvador’s transition into a surveillance state were witnessed in 2020, when Human Rights Watch reported that hundreds of citizens were being arbitrarily arrested in order to stop the transmission of Covid-19. Following this, Bukele instituted his Territorial Control Plan to curtail the influence of the nation’s many gangs. This program undoubtedly achieved its desired results, with El Salvador reaching its lowest homicide rate since the end of the 1992, yet it also resulted in the nation claiming the world’s highest incarceration rate. The use of surveillance laws by stealth authoritarians result in the chilling of civil liberties, as it leads the opposition to censor themselves which in turn curtails political diversity and “help[s] to protect and entrench the incumbent’s stranglehold on government power” (Varol 1711). These results are observable in El Salvador, with the non-profit think-tank Insight Crime reporting how these surveillance laws “deprive Salvadorans of basic constitutional rights, including the right to legal defense and the freedom of movement.” Insight Crime also indicated that many of these arrests have been made via online surveillance, meaning that Bukele is directly spying on his citizens in order to gather information for these arrests.
Still, Salvadoran supporters have made the argument that this surveillance is worth the sacrifice of civil liberties when it marks the end of gang-control in El Salvador. It seems that as long as gang members are the ones being targeted and jailed, a large percentage of Salvadorans are willing to sacrifice having full access to their constitutional rights. Yet, it’s not just gang members who are being targeted and even jailed by Bukele and the Nueva Ideas movement. Al Jazeera reports that the devices of several Salvadoran journalists and activists – many of whom were looking into state corruption within Bukele’s government – were hacked by Pegasus spyware. This spyware was likely being utilized by El Salvador’s government. Additionally, Bukele has accused and threated to investigate independent news publications like El Faro and Insight Crime for “money laundering.” Lastly, there are individuals being targeted by Bukele’s Territorial Control Plan who are not gang members. The New York Times reported how “El Salvador’s government has jailed thousands of innocent people,” including Mario Olmedo Mancía, who’s been arrested since April 2022, despite not having an affiliation with any gangs. As these examples indicate, Bukele’s government is not just weakening civil liberties under this new surveillance state, but is outright targeting and jailing journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens.
Despite President Bukele and the Nueva Ideas movement representing a threat to El Salvador’s democracy, it is still understandable why so many Salvadorans support their government. Villages and towns have been freed from harsh gang control, allowing businesses to open up without threat of extradition and families to visit one another after twenty years of living in fear. Yet, as Bukele continues to consolidate his control of the government and rebuke both opposition forces and innocent civilians, Salvadorans will have to ask themselves if these sacrifices will continue to be worth the price of democracy.
Bukele is certainly an interesting figure to study when it comes to examining stealth authoritarianism. Court packing is certainly indicative of trying to remove checks and balances and centralizing power. The opinions domestically and outside of the country on surveillance continue to be a hot button debate between safety and freedom. Overall I do agree that the stability that Bukele has provided comes with a potential to lose democracy.