Bukele Seeks Third Term Amid Praise for Disaster Aid and Education Reforms

In late July, President Nayib Bukele honored Salvadoran rescuers with a Medal of Merit for their work after Venezuela’s June earthquakes, noting that El Salvador was the first nation to deploy field hospitals and veterinary aid. He later pledged two cargo planes carrying 100 tons of supplies to Colombia after a 7.4-magnitude quake, emphasizing the country’s capacity to assist neighbors. Domestically, Bukele’s administration has launched an ambitious school-renovation plan, targeting 5,150 institutions with free internet, new furniture built by inmates, and curricula that exclude gender-ideology language, a push led by First Lady Gabriela de Bukele.

He announced 50,000 scholarships for high-school graduates and a commitment to invest 8 % of GDP in education. Bukele frames his run for a third term as a continuation of the “Salvadoran renaissance” that reduced gang violence and spurred tourism, housing and foreign investment, and he stresses that elections will be free and open in February 2027. Critics abroad label the move authoritarian, but Bukele points to high approval and recent diplomatic engagements, including a White House visit and a State Department statement praising the partnership.