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SAN SALVADOR – President Nayib Bukele's government has intensified its criticism and policies against gender ideology. LGBTI and feminist groups denounce setbacks in access to rights within state institutions.

Following his participation in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an event held in the United States by conservative and far-right groups, Bukele declared to the Parents in Action movement that his government does not allow the development of academic content with gender ideology in schools or colleges.

“(Our children) we entrust to the education system to teach them useful things for their lives, biology, math, things important for their learning. Then they come along and want to force ideologies on them. They want to force things on them that are contrary to nature,” she said in statements to the director of Moms for Liberty, an organization that seeks to expel so-called gender ideology from schools.

Also speaking at CPAC were former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) and Argentine President Javier Milei, who this week also announced that he will prohibit inclusive language and gender perspective in the public administration of the South American country.

An unconstitutional power

Bukele, 42, has described himself as “the coolest dictator in the world.” He won reelection in early February with a landslide victory despite the constitutional prohibition against consecutive terms.

Of Palestinian origin, Nayib is one of the ten children of Armando Bukele Kattán, a deceased businessman and founder of four mosques in El Salvador.

“They make us pay (taxes) so that they can have an education that is contrary to nature, contrary to God, contrary to the family, contrary to what parents want; that is the real danger and we must eradicate that from schools,” he added.

“It is a premeditated plan to destroy future generations,” Bukele said.

False promises

Prior to his election as president in 2019, Bukele had expressed his support for the rights of the LGBTI population and women. However, one of the first measures he implemented upon taking office was the elimination of the Secretariat of Social Inclusion, which included the Directorate of Sexual Diversity.

🏳️‍🌈 Keep supporting and applauding someone who is against your rights, someone who talks about improving education and in 5 years not a single reform to the system, and if there are any in this new period, it's clear they will be against our freedom. 💅👠 #Ladydrag pic.twitter.com/7GGRrSVmb6

— LadyDrag (@LadyDragES) February 29, 2024

The president ruled out that the country would consider changes regarding abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia in a set of reforms to the Constitution that were promoted by a team of lawyers led by his own vice president, Félix Ulloa.

“I have decided, so that there is no doubt, not to propose any type of reform to any article that has to do with the right to life (from the moment of conception), with marriage (maintaining only the original design, a man and a woman) or with euthanasia,” Bukele wrote in September 2021.

A year later, the government banned the broadcast of content about sexual identity on state television channel 10 and canceled a contract with a teacher training institute that broadcast an educational program, after receiving pressure from citizens who argued that it was supposedly indoctrinating students.

The director of the Solidarity Association to Promote Human Development (ASPIDH), Mónica Linares, denounced that last November the Supreme Court of Justice decided to terminate an agreement with the organization to carry out awareness days for judges and court staff regarding requests for name and identity changes.

State of Emergency

But the main criticisms of his government stem from the nearly two-year implementation of a State of Emergency to combat the gangs known as “maras.” This controversial measure, which suspends certain constitutional rights, has led to the arrest of more than 75,000 suspected gang members.

According to official data, in 2023, the number of homicides in El Salvador decreased by 68.8% due to the continuation of the state of emergency. Last year, 154 murders were committed, compared to 495 the previous year, while the homicide rate was reported at 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest in the Americas.  

Over a 24-month period, human rights organizations have documented approximately 236 deaths in state custody and more than 5,775 human rights violations. Among these, they report 53 violations against LGBTI+ individuals, 39 of which are arbitrary detentions, primarily affecting transgender women and gay men.

Schools without gender ideology

Following Bukele's statements to Parents in Action, Venezuelan journalist and analyst Eduardo Menoni posted on his X account: “BREAKING NEWS: MAJOR BLOW TO THE LGBTIQ+ LOBBY. The Ministry of Education of El Salvador CONFIRMS that it has removed all traces of gender ideology from guides, books, and educational materials in schools. • Do you support this DECISIVE MEASURE ordered by Nayib Bukele?” he wrote.

Education Minister José Mauricio Pineda cited Menoni's post and confirmed that "we have removed all use or trace of gender ideology from public schools," without giving details.

Government deputies posted messages supporting the measure to ban the teaching of gender ideology, while Bukele's supporters praised his statements. A cartoonist identified as @KikeCastaneda2 drew a hand that says "El Salvador" depositing LGBTI flags in a trash can, with the phrase "leave no trace."

Agencia Presentes requested an official statement from the Ministry of Education, but as of the closing of this note there was no response, however, in a brief publication in X, the State portfolio that the content with gender ideology was removed from guides, books and educational materials.

LGBTI activists denounced that the Ministry of Health this week ordered the removal of all materials related to sexual diversity and documents that allowed the identification of the gender of users in healthcare centers.

For show and against the Constitution

“It seems they are trying to curry favor with these groups that oppose the rights of women and LGBTI people. It is clear that there is a political motive behind seeking, provoking, and promoting discrimination, even though the Constitution of the Republic prohibits discrimination against people for any reason,” Mariana Moisa, from the Feminist Collective, told Presentes.

For his part, activist Erick Ortiz said that the ruling party was resorting to fear built on the basis of misinformation about the LGBTI population.

“That imaginary little horse they call 'gender ideology,' in this case, is nothing more than an umbrella to politically exploit the lives of people who have always been excluded, and to religiously radicalize their base of cheerleaders,” Ortiz wrote in X.

“LGBT+ people will just be another name on the long list of those persecuted, used to reinforce his narrative of victimhood (and champion of absurd causes). While he now deceives the right wing, bereft of a political project, as he previously did with the Salvadoran left, the Lord of Dreams (Bukele) is building a state whose sole purpose is to impose a kleptocratic family dynasty. And to achieve this, the chameleon will mutate as many times as necessary,” he added.