El Salvador

Vendors sell images of President Nayib Bukele during El Salvador's election campaign.

Nayib Bukele’s popularity steers him toward an unprecedented second term as president of El Salvador

Elections

In El Salvador, the official results of Sunday’s presidential elections are still not in, but that didn’t stop President Nayib Bukele from declaring victory on social media — and he looks slated to win. He was up for reelection, in a country that doesn’t allow reelection in its constitution. Bukele is extraordinarily popular. But many say the future is concerning.

A police officer searches and checks the documents of a man living in the Kiwanis Community, during a preventive patrol in search of gang members in Soyapango, El Salvador, Aug. 16, 2022, amid a state of exception.

El Salvador imprisons dozens of foreign visitors in crackdown on crime

Conflict & Justice
On May 1, two large marches weaved across San Salvador in commemoration of International Workers Day. 

El Salvador president’s popularity soars with controversial approach to crime

Leaders
People sit along Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte, El Salvador.

El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment rides on choppy seas as currency fluctuates

Economics
A young man is detained by the police, a suspect in a homicide near a market in San Salvador, El Salvador

El Salvador declares state of emergency amid killings

Violence
In this photo provided by US Navy, the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Illinois (SSN 786) returns home to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam from a deployment in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility

Aukus security pact sparks Chinese and French ire

Top of The World

China and France have condemned the new Aukus security pact between Australia, the UK and the US to build nuclear-powered submarines in the Indo-Pacific region. Also, French forces say they’ve killed the leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara in Mali. And thousands of people protested the introduction of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador on the nation’s bicentennial.

Dinora Hernandez’s three children make bracelets at home in Oakland, California. Every Tuesday, Hernandez heads to a local food bank, assistance that allows her to wire cash to family in El Salvador.

‘I want to send more money home’: Remittances are a sign of sacrifice, resilience in immigrant communities during pandemic

Economics

In all, people worldwide sent a total of $540 billion home last year, only dropping by 1.6% from 2019 — a smaller drop than during the 2009 global financial crash. 

An array of bitcoins

El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender

Top of The World

El Salvador becomes first country to approve bitcoin as a legal currency. And, US President Joe Biden begins the first overseas trip of his term in the UK, hoping to repair relations with Europe. Also, Nicaragua’s National Police continues arrests of potential challengers for the upcoming November presidential elections.

A display of a variety of guns on a table made from unauthorized parts

President Biden set to further regulate ‘ghost guns’

Violence

The Biden administration faces pushback from Republicans as it tries to pass legislation to further regulate “ghost guns” assembled with homemade parts.

A black and white headshot of author Roberto Lovato

A Salvadoran American’s memoir ‘comes full circle’ on a family history of violence, struggle

Books

Roberto Lovato’s new memoir traces his family’s history between El Salvador and the United States, examining intergenerational trauma and political forces that shape his own family’s story as well as those of tens of thousands of Salvadorans who have fled violence and warfare.