Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez is a Salvadoran politician who became president of El Salvador in 2019. Before his election, he served as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán and San Salvador.

Security policy

Bukele introduced the Territorial Control Plan in 2019. After 87 people were killed by gangs over one weekend in March 2022, he began a nationwide crackdown under a state of emergency. Homicides fell during his first year in office, while his security measures have also drawn accusations of abuses.

Bukele’s approach has influenced security debates elsewhere in the region. His government’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) has become a symbol of his policy. According to the supplied news report, Bukele’s government donated the prison’s design to Costa Rica, which opened a facility modeled on it.