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/