Several thousand people demonstrated in the streets of San Salvador on Sunday to protest President Nayib Bukele’s policies, including his decision to make bitcoin the country’s second official currency.
“Bitcoin, the scam”, “No to dictatorship”, “Democracy cannot be negotiated, it defends itself”, “Down with authoritarianism”, we could read on the signs brandished by the protesters , who marched at the call of several political parties of left and right and organizations of all kinds.
“People are starting to get tired of this authoritarian, undemocratic government. It leads us straight to the abyss with these bad ideas that harm the economy, like this bitcoin, ”Ricardo Navarro, head of the environmental organization Cesta, one of the organizers of the event, told Agence France-Presse.
El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender on September 7, along with the US dollar, which became the country’s official currency two decades ago.
The government justified this measure by the possibility of reducing the transfer fees on the sums sent to the country by the three million Salvadorians living abroad, including 2.5 million in the United States, and who represent 22% of the product. gross interior of the country.
But the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have expressed their skepticism and warned El Salvador about the risks of the operation.
Nayib Bukele, 40, in power since 2019, enjoys tremendous popularity after shaking up the traditional parties that have dominated Salvadoran politics for 30 years. But his authoritarian inclinations earned him vehement criticism from his opponents and the international community.