Jacobin Radio Long Reads: El Salvador’s Jailer in Chief
Mar 27, 2026
Hilary Goodfriend, a UNAM postdoctoral researcher who writes on Salvadoran politics, unpacks Nayib Bukele’s rise. She discusses mass arrests and the state of exception. She explores Bukele’s economic plans like Bitcoin City and prison labor. She connects US ties, deportations, and regional hard-right trends.
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FMLN Achieved Social Wins Without Economic Transformation
- The FMLN delivered significant social gains but left core economic structures intact.
- Hilary Goodfriend lists free public university, community healthcare, and poverty-reduction measures alongside persistent dependent, low-wage economic insertion.
Gangs Originated In US Deportations And Local Exclusion
- Gangs grew from U.S. deportations into a structurally excluded Salvadoran economy.
- Goodfriend explains MS-13 and 18th Street formed in Southern California and returned after 1990s deportations to a country with few opportunities.
Bukele Built Power With Family Backing And Branding
- Nayib Bukele rose from a business-family background and used marketing to build a personal brand in the FMLN.
- Goodfriend recounts his father pushing him into politics, nightclub ownership, and the trademark cyan N branding.