Nations founded on God.

Readership: All
Theme: Glory
Author’s Note: This essay was submitted by Oscar on 2023/3/5.  Of note, the font he used in the original document was Liberation Serif.  Edited with section titles and images added by Jack.
Length: 800 words
Reading Time: 4 minutes + 2 videos totaling ~12 minutes

El Agujero del Infierno

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America.  It’s smaller than New Jersey.  Its population is only 6.8 million people, which is substantially smaller than that of New York City.  Its GDP is smaller than that of Rhode Island.  El Salvador is the least significant country in one of the least significant regions of the world.  And yet, El Salvador has been all over the news all over the world lately.  Why?

img-1783683054-6a50d7eec88814.73590371.jpg

In one category, El Salvador has punched far, far above her weight for decades – crime.  El Salvador (The Savior in Spanish) used to be known as the murder capital of the world.

The country suffered a devastating civil war from 1979-1992 in which the Soviet Union supported Communist insurgents, and the United States supported the Salvadorian government.  From InfoGalactic:

“The full-fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years and saw extreme violence from both sides.  It also included the deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civilians by death squads, the recruitment of child soldiers, and other violations of human rights, mostly by the military.  An unknown number of people “disappeared” during the conflict, and the UN reports that more than 75,000 were killed.”

That is an extremely mild description.  The civil war gave rise to brutal criminal gangs of which MS-13 is now the most famous, although they were formed in Los Angeles by Salvadoreños escaping the effects of the civil war, then returned to El Salvador.  The gangs gave rise to vigilante groups like Sombra Negra (Black Shadow in Spanish), which in some ways were even more brutal than the gangs themselves.

In short, El Salvador became a murderous hellhole.  Think of the worst neighborhoods in Baltimore, only poorer.

img-1783683056-6a50d7f025f070.34600698.jpgImage from Mother Jones: PHOTOS: In El Salvador, a Gang Truce Can’t Stop the Violence (2013/3/7).

La Expiación

Until recently.

In 2015, El Salvador’s homicide rate was 103 homicides / 100,000 residents.  In just 7 years, this figure dropped through the cellar floor to 7.8 homicides / 100,000 residents in 2022.  That’s comparable to the USA with just over 6 homicides / 100,000 residents in 2022.

Many credit (or blame, depending on whom you ask) El Salvador’s current president, Nayib Bukele.  As a staunchly conservative populist, he has been criticized for governing in an authoritarian manner.  For example, on 2020/2/9, President Bukele sent forty soldiers from the Salvadoran Army into the Legislative Assembly building in an effort to coerce politicians to approve a loan request of $109 million from the United States to be used for Bukele’s security plan for the country.  This event is now being called The 2020 Salvadoran Political Crisis, commonly referred to as 9F or 9-F.

In this news clip, Tucker Carlson gets Bukele’s view of the Salvadoran immigration crisis.

Note that President Bukele says (at 1:38),

“Our country has failed to provide security and economic opportunity, so people leave.”

He’s saying this about his own regime on international news!  But that’s NOT an admission of failure.  That’s a man looking at the situation with both eyes wide open and being willing to take action.  That’s a president with agency and responsibility!

That’s significant, because Latin American politicians invariably blame the USA for all their countries’ problems, essentially denying agency and playing the victim card on a national level.  Now, there is some truth to that.  American meddling in Latin America has in fact damaged Latin America.  However, it’s also true that Latin Americans have been their own worst enemies since they gained independence from Spain.  Nothing will change until Latin Americans take responsibility for their own corruption.

El Salvador

President Bukele has been heavily criticized for the draconian measures he’s employed against MS-13 and other Salvadorian gangs, but it’s hard to argue with the results.  Ordinary Salvadoreños can finally live normal lives after 40 years of atrocious violence.

Whom does President Bukele credit for these changes?  He gives the glory to God!  (Bukele’s speech begins around 1:00.)

I don’t know how much credit President Bukele deserves — the homicide rate in El Salvador was already in steep decline before he took office — but I do know that he’s right.  A nation that glorifies God can’t help but rise, and a nation that abandons God can’t help but fail.

La Revolución

In a previous comment thread a few of us discussed how nations go through this cycle.

Tyranny → Faith → Liberty → Prosperity → Decadence (disguised as Liberty) → Chaos → Tyranny

Jack pointed out that Tyranny is necessary to restore order after a time of chaos.

This turn of the cycle is exactly what we are witnessing now in El Salvador.  This country has suffered four decades of chaos, and now seems to be going through the Tyranny (reestablishing order) and Faith stages simultaneously.

May El Salvador continue to glorify God, and may others learn from their rise from chaos.

Conexo