Iglesias warns: Bukele's style works on security
Pablo Iglesias says Bukele's style can work when security is voters' top concern, and warns the left about the challenge it poses.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Iglesias warns: Bukele's style works on security
Pablo Iglesias has said that when security becomes citizens' main concern, Bukele's style can work and become a reference point for the far right. Spain's former deputy prime minister issues the warning to his own left, urging it to face the challenge with different approaches and narratives, though he admits it will be far from easy. The remark, posted on his Twitter account, has unleashed a storm mixing recognition of El Salvador's success, memories of Bukele's leftist past and internal score-settling on the Spanish left.
What exactly did Pablo Iglesias say about Bukele
The message is short but packs a punch. Iglesias argues that security is citizens' main concern and that, in that scenario, Bukele's model can work. It is not a defence of the Salvadoran, but an uncomfortable diagnosis: the left is left without a story if it fails to offer credible answers to the antiestéticar of crime. And he adds that the far right is already using it as a reference. The reaction in the public conversation was swift and has gone in two opposite directions.
Bukele's leftist past that some remember
Part of the analysis highlights a detail that unsettles the simplest narrative: Bukele was a member of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) between 2011 and 2017, a Salvadoran left-wing party. In other words, the man who today serves as a banner for the right has not always been on that side. The fact is used to counter those who present his success as a natural victory of the right. It is also noted that, according to this view, the Spanish left neither knows nor wants to know about that uncomfortable past.
The security versus freedom argument
The core of the matter is the hierarchy of priorities. Some argue that security comes before freedom, and that without safe streets all other rights become worthless paper. The counter-argument is that this ordering justifies excesses: the use of tear gas and pepper spray against the population is mentioned, even against people over 80, as an example of where putting security above everything leads. The tension between the two frameworks runs through the whole debate.
El Salvador before and after: the testimonies
The accounts of those who knew the country before the change carry the most weight. A traveller describes his 2016 visit: to climb the Santa Ana volcano there was a single daily tour, conducted with armed security; in the capital, small businesses had armed men at the door and walking at night was sheer recklessness. Against that, people celebrate that today you can go downtown to listen to music without being murdered. The comparison between the two scenarios is the most repeated argument to justify the model.
The left and the electoral cost of being soft on crime
There is an internal political reading that goes beyond El Salvador. The argument is made that the left needs poverty for its message to thrive, and that is why it attacks anyone who delivers security and prosperity. Others put it more gently: it is said that Iglesias is engaging in self-criticism when he admits that a soft approach to crime is a millstone for the left, and that inside him lives a classical communism he cannot take out for a walk. The shared diagnosis is that the rhetoric of rehabilitation and nonsense has run out of buyers.
The Bukele model as an international reference
The conversation drifts toward a broader wave. Bukele, Milei and the changes in the Netherlands are mentioned as a supposed wave of common sense leaving corruption and collectivism behind. And the question is raised of whether Spain would need something similar. The most repeated answer is that the country is being eaten up by communism and that a president like the Salvadoran would do away with third-world conditions sooner rather than later. The comparison with European security is made without much detail, but the enthusiasm is evident.
What the Salvadoran case leaves unresolved
The debate gets stuck at the same point where it began. Some see a country that went from being the most dangerous on the continent to allowing concerts in its capital. Others see a model that normalises the use of force against the population and serves as an alibi for the far right. Iglesias warned that the challenge would not be easy. No one in the conversation has yet shown that a third way exists offering security without Bukele's methods, or that the left can sell it without losing votes along the way.
Pablo Iglesias has said that when security becomes citizens' main concern, Bukele's style can work and become a reference point for the far right. Spain's former deputy prime minister issues the warning to his own left, urging it to face the challenge with different approaches and narratives, though he admits it will be far from easy. The remark, posted on his Twitter account, has unleashed a storm mixing recognition of El Salvador's success, memories of Bukele's leftist past and internal score-settling on the Spanish left.
What exactly did Pablo Iglesias say about Bukele
The message is short but packs a punch. Iglesias argues that security is citizens' main concern and that, in that scenario, Bukele's model can work. It is not a defence of the Salvadoran, but an uncomfortable diagnosis: the left is left without a story if it fails to offer credible answers to the antiestéticar of crime. And he adds that the far right is already using it as a reference. The reaction in the public conversation was swift and has gone in two opposite directions.
Bukele's leftist past that some remember
Part of the analysis highlights a detail that unsettles the simplest narrative: Bukele was a member of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) between 2011 and 2017, a Salvadoran left-wing party. In other words, the man who today serves as a banner for the right has not always been on that side. The fact is used to counter those who present his success as a natural victory of the right. It is also noted that, according to this view, the Spanish left neither knows nor wants to know about that uncomfortable past.
The security versus freedom argument
The core of the matter is the hierarchy of priorities. Some argue that security comes before freedom, and that without safe streets all other rights become worthless paper. The counter-argument is that this ordering justifies excesses: the use of tear gas and pepper spray against the population is mentioned, even against people over 80, as an example of where putting security above everything leads. The tension between the two frameworks runs through the whole debate.
El Salvador before and after: the testimonies
The accounts of those who knew the country before the change carry the most weight. A traveller describes his 2016 visit: to climb the Santa Ana volcano there was a single daily tour, conducted with armed security; in the capital, small businesses had armed men at the door and walking at night was sheer recklessness. Against that, people celebrate that today you can go downtown to listen to music without being murdered. The comparison between the two scenarios is the most repeated argument to justify the model.
The left and the electoral cost of being soft on crime
There is an internal political reading that goes beyond El Salvador. The argument is made that the left needs poverty for its message to thrive, and that is why it attacks anyone who delivers security and prosperity. Others put it more gently: it is said that Iglesias is engaging in self-criticism when he admits that a soft approach to crime is a millstone for the left, and that inside him lives a classical communism he cannot take out for a walk. The shared diagnosis is that the rhetoric of rehabilitation and nonsense has run out of buyers.
The Bukele model as an international reference
The conversation drifts toward a broader wave. Bukele, Milei and the changes in the Netherlands are mentioned as a supposed wave of common sense leaving corruption and collectivism behind. And the question is raised of whether Spain would need something similar. The most repeated answer is that the country is being eaten up by communism and that a president like the Salvadoran would do away with third-world conditions sooner rather than later. The comparison with European security is made without much detail, but the enthusiasm is evident.
What the Salvadoran case leaves unresolved
The debate gets stuck at the same point where it began. Some see a country that went from being the most dangerous on the continent to allowing concerts in its capital. Others see a model that normalises the use of force against the population and serves as an alibi for the far right. Iglesias warned that the challenge would not be easy. No one in the conversation has yet shown that a third way exists offering security without Bukele's methods, or that the left can sell it without losing votes along the way.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (99 replies).
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