Nayib Bukele

Both names were changed by his predecessor, Norman Quijano, during his term, the former being named after Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, who ordered the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero in 1980 during the Salvadoran Civil War and founded ARENA in 1981, and the latter being named after Colonel José Castellanos Contreras, who saved 40,000 Jews from the Holocaust in Central Europe by providing them fake Salvadoran passports.

Bukele began his "revitalization" of San Salvador with the relocation of street sellers, a change which was positively received by the public and the media.

He also built the Cuscatlán Market and San Salvador's first municipal library.

Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez (born 24 July 1981) is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who is the 43rd president of El Salvador, serving since June 2019.

Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was born on 24 July 1981 in San Salvador.

He is a son of Armando Bukele Kattán, an imam, and Olga Ortez de Bukele.

Bukele's paternal grandparents were Palestinian Christians from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

His maternal grandmother was Catholic and his maternal grandfather was Greek Orthodox.

Bukele studied law at the Central American University, but later ended his studies and founded his first company at age 18 and took over family businesses.

He is the first president since 1984 not elected as the candidate of one of the country's two major political parties: the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).

He was also the director and president of Obermet, S.A. de C.V., a marketing agency, in 2011.

Bukele served as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán between 2012-15 and then as mayor of San Salvador, the capital, between 2015-18.

On 11 March 2012, he was elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán, in the department of La Libertad, representing a coalition of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) with 2,754 votes (49.72%) and Democratic Change (CD) with 108 votes (1.95%), for a total of 2,862 votes (50.68%), defeating the incumbent Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), which won 2,585 votes (46.67%).

He took office on 1 May 2012.

During his term, he donated his salary to the scholarships that he was offering for youths in Nuevo Cuscatlán.

According to a 2014 article in the digital newspaper El Faro, Bukele owned Yamaha Motors El Salvador, a company that sells and distributes Yamaha products in El Salvador.

On 21 January 2015, Bukele inaugurated a new boulevard which connected Nuevo Cuscatlán with Huizúcar and Antiguo Cuscatlán.

Bukele performed much of his works as mayor with funding from ALBA Petróleos, an association owned by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.

In the municipal elections of 2015, he won the mayoralty of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, representing a coalition of the FMLN and the Salvadoran Progressive Party (PSP) that won 89,164 votes (50.37% of total).

His main challenger, businessman and former ARENA deputy Edwin Zamora in a coalition with the National Coalition Party (PCN), received only 82,288 votes (46.49%).

The latter party had controlled the city during the previous six years.

Bukele took office on 1 May 2015.

Upon taking office, Bukele reverted the names of two streets in San Salvador: Calle Mayor Roberto D'Aubuisson to Calle San Antonio Abad A La Vía and Boulevard Coronel José Arturo Castellanos to Boulevard Venezuela.

After winning both elections as a member of FMLN, Bukele was ousted from the party in 2017.

In February 2017, Bukele visited Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to "enhance" the sister city relationship between San Salvador and Taipei.

On 10 October 2017, Bukele was expelled from the FMLN, accused by the FMLN Ethics Tribunal of promoting internal division within the party, verbally and physically attacking fellow party member Xóchitl Marchelli, performing defamatory acts against the political party, and heavily attacking and criticizing incumbent FMLN President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.

Bukele did not attend the hearing scheduled for 7 October 2017 by the FMLN Ethics Tribunal, arguing that they were biased in favor of the plaintiffs.

In 2018, he established his own party: Nuevas Ideas.

In February 2018, he attended the 32nd International Mayors Conference in Jerusalem, where he was seen praying at the Western Wall, and revealed that his wife's grandfather was a Sephardic Jew.

During the last months of his term, Bukele brushed up the historic center of San Salvador by expanding roads, remodeling buildings, and rebuilding electric and telecommunication lines, all costing around $5.7 million.

He sought to win the 2019 Salvadoran presidential election with the center-left Democratic Change.

The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) dissolved Democratic Change, so Bukele ran with the center-right Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) and won with 53% of the vote.

Murders decreased by 50% during his first year in office, which he attributed to his deployment of thousands of police and soldiers to gang strongholds and an increase in prison security.

His government was accused of secretly negotiating with MS-13 to reduce murders.

After over 80 people were killed by criminals during a weekend in March 2022, Bukele's government arrested over 75,000 people with alleged gang affiliations in a nationwide crackdown.

Bukele declared Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador in 2021.

He has been accused of governing in an authoritarian manner.

His administration has created policies to promote Bitcoin usage such as developing the Chivo wallet, expanding Bitcoin ATMs, and began plans to build a Bitcoin City powered by geothermal energy from El Salvador's volcanoes.

His decision to run in the 2024 Salvadoran general election led to criticism that immediate presidential re-election violated the constitution.

Bukele won re-election on 4 February 2024, with 85% of the vote.