Posts

A Bitcoin update from El Salvador

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A recent run-up of the price of Bitcoin has Nayib Bukele and all his supporters wanting to say "I told you so."  The price of Bitcoin today is $65,335USD, up 26% from September 6, 2021 when El Salvador's Bitcoin law went into effect.   In between those dates, however, the price had dropped below $17,000 in December 2022, increasing the skepticism around Bukele's Bitcoin gambit.     Bitcoin price history since El Salvador Bitcoin law went into effect As the volatile price of Bitcoin started surging again beginning in November 2023, Bukele repetitively posted that he was " still waiting " for the critics of his Bitcoin strategy to admit they were wrong.  Skeptics, myself included , wanted to see the actual financial records and evidence of income and expenses for the Bitcoin project. On March 14, 2024, Bukele went on X.com to post a screen shot showing 5690 BTC worth $406 million USD that day, being received at specific address on the blockchain. Bukele announ

The minimum wage in El Salvador

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This article was originally published at El Salvador Info under the title Minimum Wage in El Salvador in 2024: Understanding the Economic Realities of Salvadorans  and is reprinted here with permission of the author. By Eddie Galdamez Updated on Jan 29, 2024 The monthly minimum wage in El Salvador in 2024 is $365.00 for commerce, industrial, service, and sugar mill workers; $359.16 for maquila workers that manufacture textiles and clothing; $272.66 for coffee mill and sugar cane harvesting workers; and $243.46 for agriculture, fishing, and coffee harvesting workers. The last minimum wage increase occurred in August 2021 during the Nayib Bukele administration; before that, it happened in 2018, under the Salvador Sanchez Ceren presidency. In 2024, the Salvadoran minimum wage is divided into four sectors, with two specifically designated for urban areas and two for rural regions. Commerce, Services, Industry, and Sugar Mills Wages The minimum wage rate for workers in the fields of comme

The Maquilishuat: El Salvador's national tree

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Maquilishuat tree During the last week of February, El Salvador's national tree, the maquilishuat, burst into bloom all around the country.  Its pink and white flowers adorned yards and roadsides and parks.   In the depths of the dry season when the countryside is dry and brown, the maquilishuat brings a splash of beauty in the weeks leading up to Semana Santa. The scientific name of the maquilishuat is  Tabebuia rosea .  In other parts of the world it is known as the "pink poui", and "rosy trumpet tree" and "roble de sabana".  The tree is predominantly found in subtropical dry forests, is common in Central America, and can grow to a height of 30 meters.   According to El Salvador's environment ministry ,  the maquilishuat has ecosystem relevance since its flowers attract a variety of pollinators, such as bees and hummingbirds.  Its seeds are a source of food for various species of birds and mammals. Some maquilishuat trees along the streets in San

Nuevas Ideas' underwhelming showing in municipal elections

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Counting votes in Antiguo Cuscatlán In yesterday's election of mayors, Nuevas Ideas appears to have captured 28 municipal governments out of 44 in the newly-gerrymandered maps. (Two of those in coalition with CD).   This total probably came as a surprise to many, in light of Nuevas Ideas dominating showing in last month's presidential and Legislative Assembly elections.  With 78% of the vote nationally counted as of 7:30 Monday morning,  other parties in the lead to win municipalities included GANA(6), PDC (4), PCN (3), Fuerza Solidaria (1), ARENA (1) and a coalition of PDC/PCN (1).  The FMLN was left out of control of any municipality for the first time since it became a political party at the end of the civil war in 1992. Turnout at the polls was low . Perhaps the reason was that people felt disconnected from the new mega-municipalities.  Or these elections may have had less energy without the charismatic energy of Nayib Bukele.  Bukele did not use his vast social media pres

Sunday's municipal elections

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On Sunday March 3, Salvadorans will go to the polls for the second set of national elections in a month.   In these elections, Salvadorans will elect their mayors and will elect deputies of the Central American Parliament.  (PARLACEN). Three years ago Salvadorans elected mayors in 262 different municipalities.  However, in a measure passed 8 months ago, the Legislative Assembly consolidated those 262 municipalities into only 44 municipalities at the directive of Nayib Bukele.  The old municipalities are now "districts" within the 44 new mega-municipalities which have memorable names like San Salvador East and La Libertad South.   The new municipalities and the districts which make them up are shown at this link .   This reduction in the number of local government bodies was gerrymandering on a dramatic scale.   One analyst portrayed the impact of the change using results from the last elections in 2021. Using the votes cast for mayors in 2021, and grouping them according to

Bukele and the MAGA movement

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 In 2019, after he was elected president in El Salvador for the first time, Nayib Bukele made his first public appearance not in El Salvador, but at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.   On Thursday, Bukele made a return trip to speak to conservatives in Washington, this time as a featured speaker at CPAC , the Conservative Political Action Conference.  The conference is attended by pundits, activists and politicians from the Trump wing (which is almost the entirety) of the Republican party. The BBC summarized some of Bukele's remarks: Mr. Bukele told the conference that the next US president must have the will and courage to do "whatever it takes" to overcome the "dark forces" that he said were trying to control the US. He received loud applause for when he attacked institutions including what he called "corrupt judges" and fake news in both his country and the US. He also repeatedly cast an undefined group of "g

Deported back to El Salvador - 8 years of data

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It has been a long time since I've shared numbers on deportations back to El Salvador on El Salvador Perspectives, so it is time for an update. The International Office of Migration for the UN (IOM) has a valuable website with statistics for migration flows from the Northern Triangle of Central America through Mexico to the United States.  The following graph, from IOM data, shows the number of persons officially removed from the United States and Mexico back to El Salvador.   I say "officially removed" because these statistics do not include people who gave up along the route north and returned home to El Salvador of their own volition, or persons who "self-deported" back to El Salvador from the US or Mexico after living in either country. The graph shows calendar year data going back to 2016.  Over those eight years, the highest totals for deportations from both Mexico and the US was 2016, the final year of the Obama administration.   The second highest total