Weekly Report - 03 October 2024 (WR-24-39)

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele carried out a state visit to Argentina this week. Other governments in the region have been reticent about rolling out the red carpet for a president who marched into congress behind troops to deliver an ultimatum to legislators and stacked the judiciary in order to secure a favourable ruling to run for re-election this year in contravention of the constitution. Not so Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who has established a rapport with Bukele. Unlike Bukele, who controls all branches of government and state institutions, Milei’s power is more tightly circumscribed, but he shares Bukele’s authoritarian populist style and use of social media to disparage ‘dissenters’. While other governments look on enviously at Bukele’s success at improving public security but balk at the manner in which he achieved it, Milei is keen to learn from it.