Nayib Bukele

Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He began managing family businesses at 18.⁠[1]

After secondary school, Bukele studied law at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas, then left university for business, including leadership of the advertising company OBERMET.⁠[2]

Bukele won the mayoralty of Nuevo Cuscatlán as an FMLN candidate, serving from May 2012 through April 2015.⁠[2]

He served as mayor of San Salvador from 2015 to 2018. His municipal work included street lighting, public spaces and historic-center redevelopment.⁠[3]

The FMLN’s disciplinary body expelled Bukele. He subsequently launched the Nuevas Ideas movement and contested the 2019 presidential election through GANA.⁠[2]

Bukele won the presidential election with 1,434,856 votes, ending the postwar alternation in government between ARENA and the FMLN.⁠[3][1]

Bukele was sworn in as president at a public ceremony in central San Salvador, with Félix Ulloa becoming vice president.⁠[4]

The Legislative Assembly removed Constitutional Chamber judges and Attorney General Raúl Melara. The following day, the OAS General Secretariat rejected the removals and the executive actions behind them, emphasizing checks and balances and judicial independence.⁠[5]

Under Bukele, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The government launched the Chivo wallet for dollars and Bitcoin and offered a $30 incentive to eligible users who downloaded it.⁠[6]

Following a surge in gang violence, lawmakers declared a state of emergency at Bukele’s request, suspending some constitutional protections and enabling mass arrests. A joint Human Rights Watch–Cristosal report that year documented arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and due-process violations.⁠[7]

The report also noted that falling homicide indicators contributed to Bukele’s popularity, while restricted data access and changes in counting practices complicated independent assessment of the scale of security gains.⁠[7]

Bukele took authorized leave from presidential duties in December 2023, with Claudia Rodríguez de Guevara exercising those functions. He received 2,701,725 votes in February 2024 and began a second term on June 1.⁠[8][9][10]

Lawmakers passed Decree 199 on January 29, and Bukele promulgated it the next day. The amendments made Bitcoin acceptance voluntary for individuals and wholly private legal entities, repealed the Bitcoin tax-payment provision and required state monetary obligations to be paid in their contracted currencies.⁠[11]

Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2026 records that the United States transferred 252 Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT prison in March–April 2025; they were sent to Venezuela in a July prisoner exchange. The organization reported arbitrary detention, torture and other serious abuses during their confinement.⁠[12]

The Legislative Assembly approved and ratified constitutional changes with 57 votes, allowing indefinite presidential reelection, extending future terms to six years and abolishing presidential runoffs. A transitional provision shortened Bukele’s current term from June 1, 2029 to June 1, 2027 to align electoral cycles.⁠[13]

Nuevas Ideas announced that Bukele had secured its presidential nomination to seek a third consecutive term. Party nomination and candidate registration with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal are separate procedures.⁠[14]

The IMF completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador’s financing program, releasing about $138 million. It linked improved economic performance to security and investor confidence, while calling for continued fiscal, governance and transparency reforms.⁠[15]

The IMF stated that majority ownership and control of Chivo had transferred to a private operator, while calling for the remaining state exposure to be unwound and greater transparency of public crypto-asset holdings.⁠[15]

Bukele posted a 13-second video on X, using it to express the predicament of countries that had not developed before the AI era. The post announced no specific legislation, budget or new project.⁠[16]

Bukele married Gabriela Rodríguez in December 2014. Her work has included early-childhood and prenatal education.⁠[1]

Presidency of El Salvador: Official website: https://www.presidencia.gob.sv/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

Nayib Bukele: X: https://x.com/nayibbukele (opens in a new window).⁠[17][2]

Nayib Bukele: YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: https://www.youtube.com/@nayibbukele (opens in a new window).⁠[18]