The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, offered the U.N. General Assembly a succinct speech on Tuesday comprised of two parts: a victory lap on the overwhelming success of his campaign against criminal gangs, and a warning from “a friend” that the current trajectory of the Western world will lead to a “new dark ages of humanity.”
Bukele declared that “the free world is no longer free,” using examples including the erosion of freedom of expression, especially on social media, and rampant crime in major Western cities. He did not specify any particular instances of censorship or crime, but the Salvadoran president has in the past lamented the decline of major American cities such as New York and Baltimore stridently condemned attempts to prosecute American former President Donald Trump while he campaigns to return to the White House.
Bukele spoke on a packed first day at the General Assembly that included despondent remarks from outgoing American President Joe Biden, a 40-minute rant from Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and, immediately before Bukele, a rousing condemnation of globalism from President Javier Milei of Argentina – whose administration has turned to Bukele for advice on fighting crime.
The U.N. typically suggests a 15-minute time limit for speeches, though it does not cut off its high-level speakers if they cross the limit, as in the case with Erdogan. Bukele, going against the current, addressed the Assembly for about ten minutes.
“When I came for the first time to the United Nations General Assembly, in 2019, I know that not many people knew of El Salvador or had even heard talk about El Salvador,” he noted. If they knew about it, they only had bad references, as the most violent country in the world or the Mara country.”
“Five years after that first speech, I come here as the president of a country that now has a voice in the world,” he declared.
Bukele shifted his tone dramatically in this week’s speech from how he initially addressed the Assembly during his first speech in 2019. At that time, Bukele dismissed the forum as irrelevant, comparing it to Blockbuster video, and took a selfie on the podium to prove that the United Nations is so poorly respected more people would see the selfie than hear his speech. On Tuesday, Bukele treated the forum as relevant and used it to offer a warning, particularly to the Western world.
After celebrating the “undeniable” success of his campaign to eradicate MS-13, 18th Street, and other gangs that had taken over his country in five years, he suggested that El Salvador’s progress had occurred simultaneously with an ongoing decline in the “free world” that would lead the planet to doom.
“While the Salvadoran people became more optimist, the majority of people in the modern world become ever more pessimist,” Bukele observed. “And they have a point: the world has become divided, depressed, worried, hostile, and hopeless. And it has done it at an unprecedented pace.”
“The free world is no longer free. This is not an exaggeration,” he proclaimed.
“When the free world became free, it was due to its principles of freedom of expression, equality before the law, unity, and respect for private property. But once a nation abandons the principles that make it free, it’s only a matter of time untl it loses its freedom completely,” he suggested.
Without naming any particular nation, Bukele continued, “In some cities of the so-called free world, stores need to secure their products behind class doors with lock and key to avoid theft. And I’m not talking about expensive products, but simple things like chocolate bars and razors.”
He also addressed the leftist-led campaigns against free expression, particularly online.
“The largest social media platforms in the world were forced to censor their users at the demand of their governments,” the president said. “Citizens of Western states have been arrested for sharing posts on social networks. Governing parties have tried to ban their political opposition.”
“These are not accusations or conspiracy theories. These are provable and widely documented facts,” he added.
“You can’t claim the title of free world if your people are not even free to walk the streets without fear of being harassed, robbed, or murdered,” he suggested.
While Bukele did not address the United States by name, he has been vocally critical of Democrat leaders in major cities in the past. During a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, the president said the current state of cities such as San Francisco and New York reminded him of the El Salvador of the past.
“We can clearly see the signs of a declining society because our own hit rock bottom decades ago,” Bukele said at the time. “Big cities in decline like Baltimore, Portland, New York, just to name a few. Places where crime and drugs have become the daily norm and even accepted and promoted by the government.”
“How many young people have you lost to the streets of Philadelphia or San Francisco to fentanyl? Did we see these apocalyptic sights 15, 10, 5 years ago? Can you imagine how it will be in the next 5, 10, or 15 years?” he asked.
Bukele addressed the issue of Trump’s legal challenges in a conversation with journalist Tucker Carlson in June, in which he noted that the opposition in his country had similarly tried to impeach him and failed because of his popularity: “they feared that the people would rise up against them.”
“Either you stop the candidacy, or you let him be. But just, you know, hitting him with – you’re making the greatest campaign ever,” Bukele advised Democrats opposing Trump, ” They’re making a huge mistake – huge, huge, huge, mistake.”
Bukele concluded his speech by offering his “warning from a friend” for the West to reverse its trend of decline as soon as possible.
“We cannot and do not want to tell other countries what to do. Wach country should make its own decisions and do what is best for their people,” the president said. “We can only provide a word of warning from a friend that has passed a dark time and has waged the battle of his life to get out of it. We cannot change the course of the world – El Salvador is too small a nation.”
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