‘Our country is like a sick child, we all have to take care of it’: Nayib Bukele sworn in as president of El Salvador
- Conservative 37-year-old faces pressure to tackle rampant gang violence and poverty
Conservative businessman Nayib Bukele took office Saturday as president of El Salvador, tasked with turning around grinding poverty and rampant gang violence that are sending thousands fleeing to the United States.
Bukele was sworn in by the speaker of the National Assembly in a square in downtown San Salvador, as a large, boisterous crowd applauded and shouted “We did it!”
The telegenic Bukele, 37, was elected in February to succeed Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a leftist former guerilla who maintained close relations with his Nicaraguan and Venezuelan counterparts.
Bukele has said he will seek closer ties with the United States, home to 2.5 million Salvadorans.
With only 6.6 million people living in the small Central American country, its fortunes are closely linked to the United States which nearly a third of its citizens call home.