Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) continues a week of public scrutiny as the popular president of El Salvador said he was “honored” by her criticism after she and other House Democrats accused his administration of democratic backsliding.
Omar and over a dozen other House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding the United States “review” its relationship with El Salvador, alleging human rights abuses from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Bukele was joined by American conservatives in denouncing her criticism, with defenders pointing to the success of his policies.
Omar jumped on criticisms of his tough-on-crime policies and bid for reelection, alleging the abandonment of “democratic values.”
“I led Members of Congress in sending a letter to @SecBlinken urging action on threats to democracy in El Salvador,” Omar wrote in a post on X. “The State Dept must review its relationship with El Salvador and defend democratic values. The Salvadoran people deserve free and fair elections without fear of repression.”
The letter itself alleges that Bukele has presided over “unlawful arrests and detention, harassment of political opponents, restrictions on press freedoms, and other authoritarian actions.”
Bukele responded by mocking the Minnesota representative, saying he would be worried if he had her support.
“We are HONORED to receive your attacks, just days before OUR election,” Bukele responded in a post on X. “I would be very worried if we had your support. Thank you.”
The Salvadoran president received backing from several conservative figures in the U.S., including former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump Stephen Miller, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and numerous online commentators.
Bukele reposted Gaetz’s praise, during which the Florida Republican held him up as a model leader.
Bukele won the 2019 election on an anti-establishment platform, particularly around promises to crack down on gang violence, which had paralyzed the country. Years into his administration, a massive statewide crackdown on gangs in 2022 effectively destroyed the infamous MS-13 and 18th Street gangs, which had de facto-ruled the country for over a decade. Roughly 75,163 suspected gang members were arrested, according to Al Jazeera, and thrown in specially designed prisons.
For all its criticism, the policy has led the Massachusetts-sized country to go from the most violent country on Earth to one of the safest, boasting the second-lowest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere behind only Canada.
Though the murder rate had declined for several years since an all-time peak in 2015 of 106 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, largely due to government negotiations with, and appeasement of, the two leading gangs, Bukele’s approach effectively broke the power of the gangs. El Salvador’s current murder rate is 92% lower than that of 2015, while the number of Salvadorans attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border declined by 44%, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Though the strategy has come under heavy criticism from liberals and nongovernmental organizations abroad, it has made Bukele the most popular democratically elected leader on Earth — he boasts the support of over 90% of Salvadorans. Over two-thirds of the population support his reelection bid in a country that historically has only allowed single terms.
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Bukele has made fun of his liberal critics numerous times and embraced accusations that he is a dictator, with his X bio previously reading “world’s coolest dictator.” On other occasions, he has dismissed human rights concerns over gang members, saying at an October 2022 Cabinet meeting, “Yes, they’ll have human rights. But the human rights of honest people are more important.”
Omar has been heavily scrutinized this week due to her comments on her birth country, Somalia, with some questioning her loyalty to the U.S.