Marked by displays of military might and religious zeal, Nayib Bukele was sworn in to a second consecutive term as El Salvador’s president on June 1, an unconstitutional act that the country has not seen since the 1930s military dictatorship of Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez. Days before the inauguration, ten leaders of Alliance for a Peaceful El Salvador, a prominent opposition group, were arrested. The arrests were, in the words of Ingrid Escobar of Socorro Juridico Humanitario (Humanitarian Legal Aid), “intended to dismantle the social movement and to prevent any expression of opposition to Nayib Bukele’s inauguration.”

Bukele’s inauguration is seen by social movement groups as the beginning of “a new stage of struggle”. In a May 30 press conference, the Popular Rebellion and Resistance Bloc (BRP) declared themselves “popular organizations in resistance.” In a statement read during the press conference, they announced that, “On June 1 a new blow to the democratic process created with the Peace Accords in 1992 will be consummated: the loss of many rights that were won by and for people in struggle over the course of many years.”

Bukele’s first five-year term was marked by consistent attacks against democracy and human rights. He went after the judicial branch, illegally replacing all of the country’s Constitutional Court justices as well as hundreds of other judges and the Attorney General, restructured the Legislative Assembly and the vote count system for assigning legislators, which heavily favored his Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party in the 2024 elections. It was his Supreme Court justices that issued an opinion with an interpretation of the Constitution that his regime has since used to justify his illegal reelection candidacy, despite clear prohibitions in at least six of its articles.

He held secret negotiations with the country’s gangs in order to gain their political support and offer benefits to gang leaders. When a pact with the gangs failed in March 2022, he instituted a State of Exception, suspending civil liberties and subsequently jailing 80,000 Salvadorans. Only a small percentage have gone to trial and close to 300 people have been confirmed to have died in jail in the last two years. At nearly two percent of the population, El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

He has also persecuted environmentalists, journalists, feminist leaders, political opponents, and union leaders. Last week’s arrests of the Alliance for a Peaceful El Salvador leaders represent an escalation in the regime’s attempt to chill grassroots opposition. Ten of the leaders were arrested the night before the Alliance was to participate in a press conference denouncing Bukele’s unconstitutional second term. An eleventh person, a grassroots journalist and community leader, Luis Alberto Menjivar, was arrested on Friday after leaving a BPR press conference denouncing the arrests.

Bukele’s inauguration took place in the National Palace, whose interior and surroundings saw significant renovations in the weeks leading up to the event. Businesses and street vendors were displaced to make way for a new fountain and the palace’s floor and courtyard, protected as national landmarks, were uprooted and redesigned to Bukele’s liking.

Notable attendees were far-right Argentinian president Javier Milei and Ecuador’s right-wing leader Daniel Noboa. Far-right U.S. political celebrities Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr. accompanied MAGA Republicans Matt Gaetz (FL) and Senator Mike Lee (UT). Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar and Chair of the House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee (FL) and Democrats Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Adriano Espaillat (NY), and Lou Correa (CA) also attended.

The Biden Administration sent a large delegation led by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who celebrated a meeting with Bukele on Friday evening. The U.S. Congressional delegation, along with Ambassador William Duncan, spent part of Sunday with Bukele at a Lake Coatepeque lakehouse, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken released a statement congratulating Bukele on his inauguration.

This show of public support from the Biden Administration and the bi-partisan Congressional delegation is in line with the U.S. government policy of publicly supporting Bukele for the last several years, despite initial admonishments of his anti-democratic actions.

The Ceremony

Military imagery was a centerpiece of the inauguration, beginning with a parade featuring thousands of soldiers from different branches of the Salvadoran Armed Forces marching past the National Palace. As Bukele, wearing a Napoleon Bonaparte-inspired suit was being sworn in, there was an Air Force flyover. Dozens of armed guards donning cloaks that drew comparisons to Nazi SS uniforms and Pinochet-era Chilean military garb lined the perimeter of the crowds, both inside of and outside the National Palace.

According to Ivania Cruz, a human rights lawyer and spokesperson for the Committee of Families of Political Prisoners of El Salvador (COFAPPES), the inauguration harkened back to El Salvador’s darkest days. Referencing Bukele’s New Ideas party she says, “Nothing Bukele does is ‘new’. He is copying from the military regimes like that of Maximiliano Martinez. The type of military show that we saw on June 1, hasn’t been seen in any inauguration since the Peace Accords. We did see them in the past, but under military governments.”

During Bukele’s presidency, the size of the military, as well as its budget, has ballooned, violating a Peace Accords-mandated reduction. The sight of soldiers heavily patrolling the streets has become commonplace and Bukele has deployed thousands of soldiers to surround entire communities throughout his presidency, a spectacle that is often accompanied by Hollywood-style videos promoting the government’s heavy handed Territorial Control Plan.

Following the swearing-in, Bukele addressed the crowd. Referencing his first inauguration speech, he warned that there would still be more “bitter medicine” to come, but did not specify what form it would take. Far from offering any specific initiatives for his presidential term, Bukele focused on maligning his “enemies” and praising the “miracles” of his first term as he compared himself to a doctor that had cured El Salvador of the cancer of the gangs.

During his speech, Bukele referenced God twenty times. In one instance, he remarked that “El Salvador needs three things in order to fix the economy: One, God's guidance. Two, the tireless work of the government. And three, that the people once again defend tooth and nail every decision that is made.”

Bukele’s speech concluded by calling on attendees to raise their right hand and repeat the following vow: “We swear to unconditionally defend our national project, precisely following each step, without complaining, asking for God's wisdom so that our country will be blessed again with another miracle. And we swear never to listen to the enemies of the people.”

In an interview with the Association of Community Radio Stations of El Salvador, Samuel Ramirez, an organizer with the Movement of Victims of the Regime (MOVIR) reflected on the most stark aspects of the inauguration. “[Bukele] said that there was more bitter medicine on the way, but he didn’t want the people to say anything; that they should keep quiet. But with all of the military apparatus on display, who would want to open their mouth? So I believe the message is that he wants to continue to assert control through fear and subjugate people who, in some way, have a critical voice.”