Versión Español
Spanish.— It’s often said that no one is a prophet in their own land, but El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele defies this age-old biblical affirmation from St. Luke, positioning himself not only as the most approved leader in his country, with a 90% citizen approval rating, but also as the politician with the highest positive image in Chile, where he’s simply seen as a hero.
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No political figure, whether from the right or the left in Chile, not even his counterpart Gabriel Boric, commands as much support from Arica to Punta Arenas as Bukele. This is the latest result from the Public Plaza poll by the Market Studies Analysis Center (Cadem), which reports an 81% positive image rating for the Salvadoran head of state in Chile. Additionally, 42% of Chileans say they’d like the next president to have a similar profile, one focused on combatting gangs and drug trafficking.
The survey’s finding, which highlights Bukele’s favorable image, is striking: if a Chilean candidate were to appear with a “cool millennial” image like Bukele’s, combined with a firm stance against the wave of homicides and crime, Chileans would vote for them without hesitation.
Popularity Through Actions
From afar, Chileans admire Bukele’s fight against the surge in murders in El Salvador, where the homicide rate fell from 103 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to 21.2 in 2020. This figure continued to drop in 2021 to 18.1 and finally reached 7.8 in 2022 after implementing an emergency regime that is still in place today. This trend has cemented Bukele as the international leader most highly rated by Chileans, surpassing Canada’s Justin Trudeau, who has a 64% positive rating, British Labour leader Keir Starmer, who received 60%, and France’s Emmanuel Macron, who closed with 57%.
The president of El Salvador is famous beyond his borders. In October, on his X account, he commented on crime in Chile, describing the violent events as “incredible,” especially as Chile once set an example for Latin Americans. “What’s going on? Why are they destroying it like this?” he asked.
Boric has yet to respond, and it’s unlikely he will, given his approval rating hovers around 28%, just a third of Bukele’s, while his disapproval stands at 64%, partly due to the scandal involving allegations of sexual assault filed against the now-former Deputy Interior Secretary, Manuel Monsalve, by an advisor in his office.
With Nothing to Show For It
Even if Boric did respond, he wouldn’t have much positive to say, as the 2023 National Urban Citizen Security Survey (Enusc) showed that Chile’s perception of insecurity reached 90.6%, the highest in a decade. According to the survey, the Tarapacá region ranks as the area with the highest level of victimization, at 33.9%, followed by Arica and Parinacota, with 31.7%.
Bukele’s popularity in Chile bothers the Chilean left. At a forum in Guatemala, former president Michelle Bachelet commented, “When someone shows no respect, acts authoritarian, and imprisons 50,000 young people… of course, people say, ‘Oh, how efficient!’ But the truth is that human rights have been violated there. There has been no due process, and people are crammed into prisons under inhumane conditions.”
Bukele didn’t let the remark go unnoticed, reminding everyone, “When this lady was president of Chile, she came to El Salvador in 2015 (the year we became the world’s most dangerous country) and praised the government at the time. Now she criticizes El Salvador, even though we’re the safest country in the Western Hemisphere.” Bukele clearly feels far removed from the crisis of legitimacy faced by his regional counterparts.
