1. Nayib Bukele entered politics in 2011; the following year, he joined the FMLN and was elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlan.
176 Facts About Nayib Bukele
1. 2.
Nayib Bukele served until his 2015 election as mayor of San Salvador, where he served until 2018.
3.
In 2017, Nayib Bukele was ousted from the FMLN; he founded the Nuevas Ideas political party shortly afterward and pursued a presidential campaign in 2019.
4.
Nayib Bukele implemented the Territorial Control Plan in July 2019 to reduce El Salvador's 2019 homicide rate of 38 per 100,000 people.
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Nayib Bukele passed a law in 2021 that made bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador and has promoted plans to build Bitcoin City.
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Nayib Bukele ran for re-election in the 2024 presidential election and won with 85 percent of the vote after the Supreme Court of Justice reinterpreted the constitution's ban on consecutive re-election.
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Nayib Bukele has attacked journalists and news outlets on social media, drawing allegations of press censorship.
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Nayib Bukele has high job approval ratings in El Salvador and is popular throughout Latin America.
9.
Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was born on 24 July 1981 in San Salvador, El Salvador.
10.
Nayib Bukele's father was Armando Bukele Kattan, a businessman and industrial chemist, and his mother is Olga Marina Ortez.
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Nayib Bukele has three younger brothers, and has four paternal half sisters and two paternal half brothers.
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Nayib Bukele's father converted from Christianity to Islam in the 1980s, became an imam, and founded four mosques in El Salvador; Nayib Bukele's mother is Catholic.
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Nayib Bukele completed his secondary education at the Escuela Panamericana in 1999 at age 18.
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Nayib Bukele enrolled at Central American University in San Salvador to study judicial science, aspiring to become a lawyer, but dropped out to work for the Nolck advertising agency, one of his father's businesses.
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Nayib Bukele founded marketing company Obermet in 1999, and was its president from 1999 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012.
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Nayib Bukele ran political advertising for the FMLN presidential campaigns of Schafik Handal in 2004 and Mauricio Funes in 2009.
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Nayib Bukele was president of Yamaha Motors El Salvador, a company that sells and distributes Yamaha products in the country, from 2009 to 2012.
18.
In 2011, Nayib Bukele announced that he would enter politics as a member of the FMLN to break out of "his comfort zone" as a businessman.
19.
Nayib Bukele was elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlan on 11 March 2012 with 51.67 percent of the vote, defeating primary challenger Tomas Rodriguez of the Nationalist Republican Alliance.
20.
Nayib Bukele took office on 1 May 2012 as the country's youngest mayor.
21.
Nayib Bukele created a scholarship program for youths in the municipality, donating his $2,000 salary to fund the program.
22.
Nayib Bukele launched Sphere PM, a project that launched a high-altitude balloon to an altitude of 100,000 feet and took pictures of El Salvador, on 27 August 2014.
23.
Nayib Bukele stated that Sphere PM's goal was to promote education in science and technology to dissuade the municipality's youth from crime.
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Nayib Bukele spoke at United Nations headquarters about projects he had undertaken as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlan as part of the 31 November 2014 World Cities Day.
25.
Nayib Bukele delegated administration of Nuevo Cuscatlan to council member Michelle Sol on 10 February 2015 to focus on his campaign.
26.
Nayib Bukele's campaign used catchphrases such as "we have to change history" and "together we will go forward" to rally support from young voters.
27.
Nayib Bukele defeated Zamora with 50.38 percent of the vote on 1 March 2015, and took office on 1 May Bukele appointed a cousin, Hassan, and his half-brother Yamil to administrative positions on the San Salvador municipal council.
28.
Nayib Bukele added that another street would be named in honor of Castellanos, who provided fake Salvadoran passports to 40,000 Central European Jews to help them escape the Holocaust; Bukele renamed in honor of Castellanos in June 2016.
29.
In December 2016, Nayib Bukele inaugurated the Cuscatlan Market to encourage street vendors to relocate their businesses.
30.
Nayib Bukele installed video-surveillance cameras in parts of San Salvador that were severely affected by crime.
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Nayib Bukele inaugurated the renovated downtown Gerardo Barrios Plaza in October 2017, and the new downtown Lineal Plaza in April 2018.
32.
Nayib Bukele created a scholarship program, known as the Dalton Project and funded by his salary, for youth in San Salvador to prevent them from joining gangs.
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Nayib Bukele created the My New School project to modernize San Salvador's primary schools.
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In November 2015, Nayib Bukele signed an agreement with the Spanish National League of Professional Football to promote sports for San Salvador's youth.
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In September 2016, Nayib Bukele visited Washington, DC and met with Mayor Muriel Bowser to discuss the implementation of urban-development projects.
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Nayib Bukele visited Taipei in February 2017 and met with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen to "enhance" the sister-city relationship between San Salvador and Taipei.
37.
In February 2018, Nayib Bukele attended the 32nd International Mayors Conference in Jerusalem and prayed at the Western Wall.
38.
Nayib Bukele denied involvement in the creation of the mirror sites.
39.
Nayib Bukele sued La Prensa Grafica for $6 million on 4 July 2017, alleging that the newspaper had defamed and slandered him in its reporting of the cyberattacks by "falsely" connecting him to the Troll Center case and "damag[ing] [Nayib Bukele's] image".
40.
Nayib Bukele clashed with other party members on Twitter, and frequently resisted FMLN party leadership.
41.
Nayib Bukele was a strong critic of Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the FMLN president of El Salvador who was elected in 2014.
42.
Nayib Bukele threatened to leave the party in 2015 if the FMLN-led government reappointed Luis Martinez as the country's attorney general, describing Martinez as "a gangster, very corrupt, [and] the worst of the worst".
43.
The FMLN relented and replaced Martinez, and Nayib Bukele later admitted that his threat to leave the party "was a bluff".
44.
San Salvador FMLN member Xochitl Marchelli alleged in September 2017 that Nayib Bukele had thrown an apple at her, calling her a "damn traitor" and a "witch".
45.
Nayib Bukele did not attend an FMLN ethics tribunal on 7 October 2017, saying that the tribunal was biased in favor of Marchelli.
46.
In February 2019, FMLN presidential communications secretary Roberto Lorenzana stated that Nayib Bukele's expulsion was a mistake that cost the party votes.
47.
In 2025, Nayib Bukele remarked that he was "mistaken" for having previously voted for the FMLN.
48.
Nayib Bukele eventually expressed interest in running for president with the FMLN, but the party did not consider him as its vice-presidential nominee.
49.
Nayib Bukele wrote on social media that the FMLN had purged him, and portrayed himself as an independent politician who rejected the country's political system.
50.
On 15 October 2017, Nayib Bukele announced his intention to run for president in 2019 and form a new political party.
51.
Nayib Bukele announced the establishment of the Nuevas Ideas party on 25 October 2017 on social media, saying that Nuevas Ideas would seek to remove ARENA and the FMLN from power.
52.
Nayib Bukele tried to associate the two parties with the governments of previous presidents that were marred by corruption, using slogans such as "There's enough money when nobody steals" and "Return what was stolen".
53.
For Nayib Bukele to run for president with Nuevas Ideas, he had to get the party registered with the Supreme Electoral Court.
54.
Nayib Bukele registered as a member of Democratic Change and sought the party's presidential nomination before the deadline, but the TSE canceled the party's registration four days before the deadline because Democratic Change failed to receive over 50,000 votes during the 2015 legislative elections.
55.
On 29 July 2018, Nayib Bukele registered with the right-wing Grand Alliance for National Unity and received the party's presidential nomination.
56.
Nayib Bukele selected Felix Ulloa, a lawyer, as his vice-presidential candidate.
57.
Nayib Bukele used social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter extensively throughout his campaign to communicate with his supporters.
58.
Nayib Bukele did not attend either of the two presidential debates, in December 2018 and January 2019, claiming that the debate rules were not explained to him.
59.
Nayib Bukele was the election's front-runner, leading virtually every poll by a substantial margin.
60.
On election day, 3 February 2019, Nayib Bukele defeated Calleja, Martinez, and Alvarado with 53.1 percent of the vote.
61.
Nayib Bukele was the first presidential candidate to be elected since Jose Napoleon Duarte who was not a member of ARENA or the FMLN.
62.
Nayib Bukele became the 81st president of El Salvador as well as the country's youngest president at the age of 37.
63.
Nayib Bukele held the inauguration ceremony at the National Palace due to its location in Gerardo Barrios Plaza instead of in the Blue Room of the Legislative Assembly in an effort to portray himself as focusing his presidency on the people.
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Nayib Bukele's supporters booed and jeered at the Legislative Assembly deputies as they were introduced.
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Nayib Bukele announced a sixteen-person cabinet composed of eight men and eight women.
66.
Nayib Bukele described his second inauguration as "the most important moment in our recent history".
67.
On 19 June 2019, Nayib Bukele announced that his government would implement a seven-phase security Territorial Control Plan that sought to disrupt gang finances.
68.
Nayib Bukele established the Social Fabric Revitalization Unit to implement the phase.
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Phase six began in September 2023, when Nayib Bukele established the National Integration Directory to combat poverty and unemployment.
70.
Nayib Bukele denied El Faro allegations, posting photos on Twitter of gang members rounded up in cramped conditions from an April 2020 prison crackdown.
71.
The department stated that Nayib Bukele's government "provided financial incentives" to both gangs to ensure that they would reduce the country's homicide rate and support Nuevas Ideas in the election held earlier that year and sanctioned Osiris Luna Meza and Social Fabric Revitalization Unit chair Carlos Marroquin Chica for negotiating with the gangs.
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Nayib Bukele denied the department's accusations, saying that the United States sought "absolute submission" from El Salvador rather than cooperation.
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In some instances, Nayib Bukele ordered security forces to blockade certain municipalities to capture all gang members within them.
74.
Nayib Bukele posted a video of prisoners sleeping on floors and complaining about a lack of food and sanitation.
75.
The government began destroying gravestones belonging to deceased gang members in November 2022 to prevent them from becoming "shrines" and Nayib Bukele compared the gravestone destructions to denazification in post-World War II Germany.
76.
Nayib Bukele warned Salvadoran parents to keep their children away from gangs, since they would lead to "prison or death".
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Shortly after the crackdown began, Nayib Bukele called for the construction of a new 20,000-inmate prison.
78.
Nayib Bukele announced the construction in July 2022 of the 40,000-inmate Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, that would be one of the world's largest prisons.
79.
In February 2023, Nayib Bukele posted a video on Twitter of him and members of his cabinet touring the prison.
80.
Nayib Bukele posted a video on Twitter on 24 February 2023 of the transfer of the prison's first 2,000 prisoners, and posted a similar video the following month of the transfer of 2,000 more prisoners.
81.
In June 2024, Nayib Bukele told Time that the security situation in El Salvador had become sustainable and that he and his government hoped to end the state of emergency "in the near future".
82.
In November 2019, Nayib Bukele began trying to secure a $109 million loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration to fund phase three of the Territorial Control Plan.
83.
On 6 February 2020, Nayib Bukele invoked Article 167 of the country's constitution and called for an emergency meeting of the Legislative Assembly to approve the loan.
84.
Nayib Bukele issued an executive decree on 11 March 2020 imposing a "quarantine throughout the national territory", shortly after World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
85.
Nayib Bukele confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in El Salvador on 18 March 2020.
86.
On 21 March 2020, Nayib Bukele imposed a 30-day nationwide lockdown in an effort to combat the pandemic.
87.
Nayib Bukele inaugurated the Hospital El Salvador, the largest hospital in Latin America used exclusively for treating cases of COVID-19 at the site of the former International Center for Fairs and Conventions, on 22 June 2020.
88.
On 13 May 2021, Nayib Bukele donated 34,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to seven towns in Honduras after pleas from their mayors for vaccine doses.
89.
Gabriel Labrador, a journalist for El Faro, told El Pais that Nayib Bukele made the donation to Honduras to improve his public image in Central America.
90.
Nayib Bukele announced at the Bitcoin 2021 conference on 5 June 2021 that he would introduce a bill to the Legislative Assembly that would make bitcoin legal tender, saying that it would "generate jobs" and promote "financial inclusion" in the short term.
91.
The day before bitcoin became legal tender, Nayib Bukele announced that the Salvadoran government had bought its first 200 bitcoins.
92.
Nayib Bukele mocked news-media outlets on Twitter, saying that there were "literally thousands of articles" about El Salvador's bitcoin losses and the same outlets were now "totally silent".
93.
In November 2021, Nayib Bukele announced that he planned to build Bitcoin City in the southeastern region of La Union at the base of the Conchagua volcano.
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Nayib Bukele published images of models of Bitcoin City and its planned airport on Twitter in May 2022, saying that the city would have "no income tax, zero property tax, no procurement tax, zero city tax, and zero CO2 emissions".
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In July 2024, Nayib Bukele threatened to mass-arrest vendors, importers, and distributors who engaged in price gouging.
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Nayib Bukele claimed that his Economic Plan would create 4,000 jobs.
97.
On 15 September 2024, Nayib Bukele stated that his 2025 government budget would not include "a single cent of debt for current spending" and that his government would not take out foreign loans to pay for the budget.
98.
On three occasions in 2024, Nayib Bukele offered to buy back billions of dollars worth of government bonds due by 2034.
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Nayib Bukele stated that the bank's support would help El Salvador's "economic takeoff".
100.
Later that month, Nayib Bukele wrote on X that he supported mining gold, describing it as "wealth that could transform El Salvador".
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Nayib Bukele further described the country's metal mining ban as "absurd".
102.
The Legislative Assembly repealed the ban on 23 December 2024 and Nayib Bukele approved the law that same day.
103.
Nayib Bukele stated in June 2019 that his government would no longer recognize Nicolas Maduro as the president of Venezuela, instead recognizing Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president during Venezuela's presidential crisis.
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Nayib Bukele rejected the results of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election as a "fraud" and stated that he would not restore relations with Venezuela unless there were "real elections".
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Nayib Bukele refused to recognize the presidency of Manuel Merino in Peru in November 2020, calling Merino's government "putschist".
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El Salvador has abstained from resolutions critical of Nicaragua at the Organization of American States since 2022, with Nayib Bukele's government citing "non-interference" as justification.
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In February 2022, Nayib Bukele accused United States president Joe Biden of "crying wolf" about a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Nayib Bukele did not comment on the invasion when it began later that month, posting instead on Twitter about bitcoin and bonds.
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Nayib Bukele tweeted that "the best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear".
110.
In March 2024, Nayib Bukele offered to send a mission to Haiti to "fix" the country's gang war with United Nations Security Council support.
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The second Trump administration considers Nayib Bukele to be an important ally in mitigating immigration to the US from Central America.
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In February 2025, Nayib Bukele offered Secretary of State Rubio to accept non-Salvadoran deportees from the United States, including convicted American prisoners "of US citizenship and legal residents".
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Nayib Bukele stated that these "dangerous American criminals" would be incarcerated in CECOT.
114.
In December 2019, Nayib Bukele met Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing and signed a "gigantic" infrastructure agreement with China for an unknown amount of money.
115.
In November 2022, Nayib Bukele announced that El Salvador and China had begun negotiations for a free trade agreement between the countries.
116.
Nayib Bukele stated that a free trade agreement with China was "very important" because El Salvador had been "isolated from [the] potential" of China's economic strength.
117.
On 11 November 2021, Nayib Bukele introduced the "Foreign Agents Law" to the Legislative Assembly with the goal of "prohibiting foreign interference" in Salvadoran political affairs.
118.
Nayib Bukele established the International Commission Against Impunity in El Salvador in September 2019, an anti-corruption commission to combat drug trafficking, corruption, and white-collar crimes.
119.
Nayib Bukele dissolved CICIES in June 2021 after the OAS named Ernesto Muyshondt an anti-corruption advisor; Ernesto Muyshondt was accused by the Salvadoran government of electoral fraud and illegal negotiation with gang members to vote for ARENA during the 2014 presidential election.
120.
Nayib Bukele was arrested and was scheduled to go on trial in April 2024, despite concerns about his health.
121.
On 1 June 2023, during a speech celebrating his fourth year in office, Nayib Bukele stated that his government would begin a "war against corruption".
122.
Nayib Bukele announced that he would build a prison for individuals convicted of white-collar crimes that would be similar to the Terrorism Confinement Center.
123.
Nayib Bukele stated that the police and military would arrest white-collar criminals like they capture gang members in the gang crackdown.
124.
Nayib Bukele added that Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado was in the process of raiding and confiscating assets worth up to $68 million from former Salvadoran president Alfredo Cristiani as part of the anti-corruption campaign.
125.
In December 2022, Nayib Bukele tweeted that he believed that the country's 262 municipalities should be reduced to 50.
126.
Nayib Bukele called it "absurd" that El Salvador, around 8,100 square miles in size, had so many municipalities.
127.
Some lawyers and politicians criticized Nayib Bukele's proposed reduction as an attempt to consolidate power by gerrymandering.
128.
Nayib Bukele's allies supported the proposal, with some proposing a reduction in the number of Legislative Assembly seats.
129.
On 1 June 2023, during a speech commemorating his fourth year in office, Nayib Bukele announced that he would present two proposals to the Legislative Assembly.
130.
Nayib Bukele justified the legislative reduction by saying that the legislature had 60 seats before the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992 that ended the Salvadoran Civil War, and the accords' only accomplishment was the addition of 24 seats to the legislature.
131.
The 2021 ruling allowed Nayib Bukele to run for re-election in the 2024 presidential election.
132.
On 15 September 2022, during a speech commemorating El Salvador's 201st anniversary of independence, Nayib Bukele announced that he would run for re-election in 2024.
133.
Nayib Bukele registered as a presidential pre-candidate on 26 June 2023 with Nuevas Ideas; Ulloa registered as Nayib Bukele's vice-presidential pre-candidate.
134.
Nayib Bukele's appointment was criticized by some lawyers and opposition politicians as unconstitutional.
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Nayib Bukele led Sanchez and Flores by large margins in opinion polling before the election.
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Nayib Bukele promised to maintain the gang crackdown, invest in infrastructure projects, and promote economic growth during his second term.
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Nayib Bukele was the first Salvadoran president to be re-elected since Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez in 1944.
138.
In June 2024, Nayib Bukele told Time that he would not seek a third term.
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Nayib Bukele began dating psychologist and ballet dancer Gabriela Rodriguez in 2004 and the two married on 6 December 2014.
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Nayib Bukele acquired most of his wealth through business ventures before entering politics.
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Nayib Bukele's religious beliefs were controversial during his 2019 presidential campaign, with rumors that he was a Christian, a Muslim, or an atheist.
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The controversy began when pictures from 2011 of Nayib Bukele praying at a mosque with his father and brothers spread on social media.
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Nayib Bukele dismissed the controversy as an attempt by the political right to exploit Islamophobia in the predominantly Catholic country.
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Nayib Bukele believed in social justice and the state obligation to guarantee Salvadorans the opportunity for "health, education, [and] productive infrastructure".
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Since becoming president, Nayib Bukele has stated that he does not adhere to any specific political ideology.
146.
Nayib Bukele has criticized the political left and right in El Salvador for dividing the country after the civil war.
147.
Nayib Bukele himself has received support from conservatives abroad in both Latin America and the United States, particularly for his anti-crime policies, and well as criticism for democratic backsliding and consolidating power.
148.
Nayib Bukele was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump after his victory in the 2024 United States presidential election.
149.
Nayib Bukele is a critic of George Soros, saying in May 2023 that "in all the countries of Latin America, there are outlets and 'journalists' paid by Soros".
150.
In February 2024, Nayib Bukele spoke at the American Conservative Political Action Conference and accused Soros of attempting to "dictate public politics and laws" in El Salvador.
151.
Nayib Bukele expressed opposition to globalism, saying that "it's already dead" in El Salvador.
152.
Nayib Bukele explained that Bukele changes his positions to appease as many voters as possible and to gauge public opinion on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.
153.
Nayib Bukele stated in 2014 that he was an ally of the LGBT community, supported their civil rights, and opposed discrimination against LGBT individuals.
154.
Nayib Bukele stated the following month that the proposed constitutional reform would not legalize same-sex marriage, posting on Facebook that the original text would remain intact.
155.
In March 2024, Nayib Bukele stated that his government would remove "all traces" of "gender ideologies in schools and colleges".
156.
In June 2024, Nayib Bukele fired 300 bureaucrats from the ministry of culture for promoting policies that were "incompatible" with his emphasis on "patriotic and family values".
157.
In 2013, when a Salvadoran woman known as "Beatriz" was denied an abortion despite doctors saying that she would die in childbirth, Nayib Bukele called those who denied her an abortion "fanatics".
158.
Nayib Bukele stated in October 2018 that he only supported abortion in cases where the mother's life was at risk, and expressed opposition to abortion on demand.
159.
Nayib Bukele changed his mind the following month, saying that abortion would not be decriminalized and recognizing the "RIGHT TO LIFE " of the unborn.
160.
Nayib Bukele is a proponent of Central American reunification, an ideology that calls for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to reestablish the Federal Republic of Central America, and has stated that Central America should be "one single nation" in some of his speeches.
161.
Nayib Bukele was the president pro tempore of the Central American Integration System, an economic and political organization, from 5 June to 22 December 2019.
162.
In February 2020, Nayib Bukele signed an agreement with the Guatemalan government to remove restrictions on border crossings between El Salvador and Guatemala and designate flights between the countries as "domestic" flights to promote tourism.
163.
Nayib Bukele described the agreement as "the greatest step to the integration of Central America in the last 180 years".
164.
Nayib Bukele argued that emigration strained the United States and impeded domestic efforts to improve living conditions in El Salvador.
165.
Nayib Bukele has dismissed critics of his government as spreading "fake news" and accused them of being "mercenaries".
166.
Nayib Bukele has stated that journalism was once a "noble career that sought the truth" that had supposedly become propaganda.
167.
The El Salvador Journalists Association estimated that by November 2022, at least a dozen journalists had fled El Salvador since Nayib Bukele took office citing fears for their safety.
168.
In November 2021, Nayib Bukele introduced a bill known as the "Foreign Agents Law" to the Legislative Assembly with the goal of "prohibiting foreign interference" in Salvadoran political affairs.
169.
In 2025, Nayib Bukele claimed that most independent journalists and media outlets were part of a supposed "global money laundering operation", referring to the United States Agency for International Development.
170.
Nayib Bukele has promoted surfing as part of El Salvador's tourism market.
171.
Nayib Bukele designated part of El Salvador's Pacific coastline in the La Libertad Department as "Surf City", where the 2021 and 2023 ISA World Surfing Games were hosted.
172.
At the tournament's opening ceremony, Nayib Bukele rebuked critics by saying that he was "not a dictator" and told them to ask everyday Salvadorans what they thought about his "supposed dictatorship".
173.
In January 2023, Nayib Bukele announced that El Salvador would host the Miss Universe 2023 pageant; the last time El Salvador had hosted Miss Universe was in 1975.
174.
At the pageant, Nayib Bukele said that Miss Universe had given El Salvador the opportunity to "show the world what we are capable of".
175.
Nayib Bukele is one of the most popular presidents in Salvadoran history, and the Los Angeles Times Kate Linthicum called him "one of the most popular leaders in the world".
176.
Steven Levitsky, a political scientist and the director of Harvard University's Latin American studies center, wrote that "everybody wants to be a Nayib Bukele" and compared his popularity across Latin America to that of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.