El Salvador president Nayib Bukele’s selfie steals show at UN summit, as he says Instagram photos have more impact than speeches
- Leader known for social media savvy says more people will look at photo than listen to his words
- Bukele later defends friendly relationship with fellow Twitter aficionado Donald Trump
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, whose social media savvy helped win him power earlier this year, took a selfie before his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly, which he called “obsolete” and suggested scrapping.
In a dark suit and no tie, his hair slicked back in his signature style, the 38-year-old thanked the other leaders present and said he especially wanted to greet his wife and baby daughter sitting in the gallery.
“If you’ll just bear with me a second,” he then added, pulling out his iPhone 11, lifting it up to his grinning face and snapping a photo he later posted on Twitter to his 1.1 million followers.
“Believe me, many more people will see that selfie when I share it than will listen to this speech – I hope I took a good one.”
“A couple of images on Instagram can have more impact than any speech delivered in this assembly,” he said, quipping that the annual summit of the world’s leaders could be done by video conference.