This episode looks at the rise of Nayib Bukele, from his days as a media mogul, club promoter, Yamaha dealer and local mayor, to beloved iconoclast president/ world’s coolest dictator. Was he an industry plant, or did this girlie work his butt off to get to the tippity top?

We talk to Hilary Goodfriend, UNAM-Mexico City researcher and editor at Jacobin Magazine, NACLA and Latin American Perspectives, who walks us through the branding, improvisation, and family connections that launched Nayib into the executive — as well as how a healthy dose of papitis, as well as class and racial resentment, may be what’s driving the sweeping changes that El Salvador is experiencing today.

References:

https://jacobin.com/2022/09/the-crypto-bro-president

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/06/world/el-salvador-eliminating-presidential-term-limits-intl-latam

https://www.wola.org/2024/02/irregularities-in-the-salvadoran-electoral-process-cannot-be-ignored/

https://gatoencerrado.news/2022/03/04/sitramss/

https://www.elfaro.net/es/201401/noticias/14396/

This episode picks apart the communications strategy of El Salvador's governing party, Nuevas Ideas, and how they've rebranded the suspension of civil liberties into a triumph of good over evil, just by slapping on the face of a tech bro in a baseball hat.

We look at the namesake of this podcast, Surf City, through the eyes of political communications expert Elena, who shares her thoughts on the censorship, troll farms, crypto kings, state media, paid sponsorships, artist collabs and general astroturfing that makes the Bukele model so on trend right now- and the bestia mediática that this podcast is up against.

Statecraft, but make it content, chava. This is Episode 2 of Live from Surf City.

Sauces:

https://www.revistafactum.com/seis-anos-destruccion-columna/

https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Implicada-en-caso-Troll-Center-recibio-21-mil-en-periodo-de-Nayib-Bukele-20181219-0363.html

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c4gpv776zd0o

https://diariolahuella.com/gerson-martinez-se-atribuye-construccion-de-bypass-de-la-libertad-y-el-presidente-bukele-lo-desmiente/

Has your tía been talking about how nice el paisito is now that all the mareros are in jail? Are you glad to be able to visit the family rancho without getting mugged, but maybe a little disturbed that this is due to the Salvadoran equivalent of an ICE raid?

Are mareros people? Can we solve all our problems by locking them up and throwing away the key? Should Youtubers have more of a right to visit prison than the families of incarcerated folks? Why are we so tranqui about mass incarceration in El Salvador but riot against it in the United States?

We’ll address these and many more inquietudes in this episode, where we interview Mayra the anthropologist, who studies how family dynamics are affected by Salvadoran carceral regimes. We skip the coverage of Kilmar Abrego and the Venezuelan deportees to get to the heart of what mass incarceration means for everyday Salvadorans since their civil liberties were suspended under the state of exception three years ago.

No charges. No trials. No end in sight.

Come with us this season to listen to these and other stories from what we affectionately call Hell Salvador.

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Correction: The PSA at the end is by the Progressive Action Fund, not the Democratic Party.

From the sparkling black sand beaches next to CECOT, here's a preview of this season's interviews with Salvadorans (& friends) mulling over, just like you, what the f*** is going on in El Salvador. The water's warm- are you ready to jump in? Season 1 of Live From Surf City coming agostinas 2025.