Unexpected international brawl: Ilhan Omar takes aim at Nayib Bukele and gets a swift response

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, will seek a second term in the coming elections and is expected to obtain a comfortable victory. His pro-law and order agenda is very popular among Salvadorans, which is why most polls place him 50 points above his closest rival. With the elections just days away, he took the opportunity to exchange words on X with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

It turns out that the progressive led a group of representatives who wrote a letter to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asking him to “address ongoing threats to democracy and human rights in El Salvador.”

Omar, who spoke about it on social networks, was joined by Joaquín Castro (TX-20), Jesús Chuy García (IL-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09).

“President Bukele has also, during his first term, overseen the militarized harassment of the legislature, a significant erosion of judicial independence, and the de facto criminalization of civil society. With the election approaching, this crushing of dissent and restriction on multiparty democracy has extended to the arrests and arrest warrants of political opponents, including the former Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States, Rubén Zamora. Much of this persecution has been done with the active complicity of El Salvador’s judicial system,” they wrote in the letter.

Bukele: “I would be very worried if we had your support”

The president of El Salvador did not take long to respond to the progressive and commented on her X account, formerly known as Twitter.

“We are HONORED to receive your attacks, just days before OUR election. I would be very worried if we had your support. Thank you,” Bukele wrote in a post that exceeded two million views.

Bukele is headed for a second term in El Salvador

Bukele’s agenda appears popular in his country, as the latest polls place him well above his competitors. For example, according to a Cid Gallup poll, 79% would vote for the incumbent, thus marking a difference of up to 75% with the potential second candidate.

The same poll shows his party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), winning a large legislative majority of 52 legislators, with other parties only gaining 8.

A survey carried out by Iudop-UCA places the current president even farther ahead of the field with 81% of the votes.