Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

This guy once called himself the world's coolest dictator. Just to annoy the critics, now he's the President of El Salvador for a second term. Meet Najib Bukele, re-elected in the country by a huge majority. But who is he? He's of Palestinian origin and worked in his dad advertising and public relations company before going into politics. He became President aged 37, and is now one of the most popular leaders in Latin America. In 2021, Bukele introduced Bitcoin as a legal tender, as a way to rebrand El Salvador and to attract investment and tourism. But it turns out 85% of the population didn't even use Bitcoin to pay for anything last year. He's also waged what he calls a war against gangs, and crime went down dramatically. An estimated 75,000 people have been arrested in almost two years. Human rights groups say that thousands have been imprisoned without evidence or in overcrowded jails. But Bukele says the massive support is the best proof of his success.