El Salvador

By Maryam Ahmad

El Salvador’s attorney-general has announced what he described as “exemplary sentences” against 248 members of the MS-13 criminal gang, following a major trial linked to dozens of violent crimes.

The convictions covered a range of offences, including 43 homicides. One defendant was sentenced to 1,335 years in prison, while ten others were each sentenced to several hundred years.

Authorities said the case marks one of the most significant legal blows against organised crime in the country. The mass sentencing forms part of President Nayib Bukele’s ongoing crackdown on gangs, a campaign that has dramatically reshaped El Salvador’s security policies and drawn both domestic support and international scrutiny.

Government officials argue that the harsh penalties are intended to dismantle gang structures and deter future violence, as the administration continues its hardline approach to public security.

By Muhsin Ibrahim

El Salvador has become the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender in the world. According to the Central American country president, Nayib Bukele, the government will give every adult citizen $30 in bitcoin, provided they download and register the government’s cryptocurrency app, known as Chivo.

The 39-year-old Bukele, who is also a right-wing populist, rose to power in 2019. Since then, he has initiated drastic changes in the small country. He announced plans to start using bitcoin in June. Late Monday (yesterday), he made another announcement via a televised speech, which was also streamed on YouTube, that the digital currency becomes legal from today (Tuesday).

El Salvador’s official currency is the U.S. dollar.

In his reaction to the fears expressed by some people and financial experts, particularly regarding the future of wages and pensions in bitcoin, President Bukele explained that Salvadorans will still have access to dollars.

Matt Novak, a Gizmodo reporter, questions whether or not El Salvador’s experiment with bitcoin will work. In response to that, he adds that “Only time will tell. But with bitcoin’s wild volatility it’s hard to see how the economy won’t get absolutely crushed when bitcoin’s price plunges.”