Is the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, Convincing?

Nayib Bukele is the current president of El Salvador, a central American country that is known for its volcanos and is so small, it can be traveled from east to west in one day...or less. Before moving on, I believe a very, very brief history is in order...

El Salvador had a civil war that ended in 1992. The consequences of the war included poverty which led the unfortunate creation of one of the worst street gangs. Decades later, the gangs unofficially rule El Salvador with young and old dying in the streets and those alive being extorted for money. Thousands have fled El Salvador during the civil war and thousands fled after the war ended because of gang violence. Those that fled and their children were cautioned against returning or visiting El Salvador because the gangs could extort or kill the remaining family members in El Salvador. That is, until Nayib Bukele came into the picture.

During his campaign in 2018, Nayib Bukele stated he was against the gangs and if elected, he would eradicate them. This sounded very hopeful to the citizens of El Salvador and the diaspora. I decided to look at two speeches that Nayib Bukele gave to the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 after becoming president, and 2023 to find trends in what he mentions. These are important speeches that show the world the important changes that have come to El Salvador. This would be insightful as a member of the Salvadorian diaspora as to what has made Nayib Bukele successful in becoming president, being so loved by El Salvadorians around the world, and eradicating the gang violence problem.

First, to find the most used words in President Bukele's speeches, I used the cirrus tool in Voyant Tools. As you can see, the most frequent words were Salvador, Country, World, People, Assembly. However, other frequent words include change and children. These words can be convincing especially to citizens of a country plagued by war and gang violence. Who wouldn't want positive change for their children?

Second, I used the word tree. It showed that the most used words were roots of other important phrases that one might want to hear including Destroyed and New. I would also venture out to say that words like own and entire might motivate a citizen to vote or join Bukele's party. Works liked destroy and entire sound more of absolute to the ear. A citizen would want the entire destruction of violence to have a new country, right?

Third, I used the collocate feature to dive even deeper into the analysis of key terms used in Bukele's speeches. There is an interesting point here. Bukele connects those keywords shown in the word cloud. Salvador and People are connected five times! Other striking connections include World and New, Country and World, World and Citizens. Powerful words from a president who looked to shake things up.

Lastly, I was curious regarding the topics that Bukele mentioned when speaking on a world stage such as the United Nations. Some trends that were apparent (when using only 5 terms and 7 topics) were "new thinking", "world change", and "community". Very much in line with the other trends discussed above. Does this further point out the Bukele can be convincing?

Based on the conversation with Ms. Vinas, host of a podcast about the President Bukele, all might not be a new world for the people of El Salvador. Indeed, Bukele calls himself, the "coolest dictator". With accusations of human rights abuses, one might not be on Bukele's side or vote for him. However, a country that has long fought against poverty and violence might be looking for a bit of a reprieve. From the sound of Bukele's speeches and terminology used along with already radical changes made by him, it would appear that change has come. The price the citizens of El Salvador, and their children, will pay for this destruction of old and birth of new is not yet known. Is it best to enjoy the current state of affairs and worry about consequences later? If you are asking if this writer is biased, she would say yes. A child of the migration from El Salvador and born in the United States, I returned to El Salvador after 30 years because of the new policies by Nayib Bukele. So yes, I am bit biased and convinced :)

References

Blitzer, J. (2022, September 5). The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Authoritarian President. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/12/the-rise-of-nayib-bukele-el-salvadors-authoritarian-president

El Salvador Country Profile - National Geographic Kids. (2014, March 21). Geography. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/countries/article/el-salvador#:~:text=Known%20as%20the%20Land%20of

Where can I find statements made by El Salvador during the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly? - Ask DAG! (n.d.). Ask.un.org. Retrieved July 11, 2024, from https://ask.un.org/faq/75547

Nayib Bukele Speech to the 78th United Nations General Assembly (English ttranscript-video). (September 19, 2023). Www.americanrhetoric.com. ‌

El Salvador | General Assembly. (2023, September 19). Gadebate.un.org. https://gadebate.un.org/en/78/el-salvador

Rameswaram, S. (2024, February 11). Did El Salvador just vote to end democracy? Vox. https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/2024/2/11/24067962/el-salvador-vote-democracy-bukele-dictator-gangs-crypto

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