I can get behind President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador whole-heartedly. We recently discussed his crackdown on narco and gang violence in his country, leading to his re-election with an overwhelming majority of the vote.
The 'unapologetic dictator' and 43rd President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele launched an anti-corruption investigation into the entire executive branch of his government. Just like Anil Kapoor-starrer Bollywood movie 'Nayak', the businessman turned politician ordered every single official to gather in an assembly, where he announced the decision to inquire them for bribery. The move is seen as a strike against graft back home in the Central American nation.
The video of Bukele asking the Attorney General to investigate the entire executive branch including the cabinet members for corruption has gone viral online. The faces of the officials sitting and gathered at the assembly could tell that they were shocked and taken aback by the move.
There's more at the link. You'll find a video recording of President Bukele making his announcement here.
I love it! It would be marvelous if we could do the same thing in Washington D.C., not to mention every one of our fifty State capitals. The only problem would be to find enough uncorrupted investigators to do the work!
Peter
Be careful what you wish for. He may just want to know which people are willing to take bribes and which ones may need replacing. Yeah, I'm that jaded when it comes to politics.
ReplyDeleteirontomflint
He’s making all the right noises. If he is legitimate, I hope he watches his back.
ReplyDeleteAnd they collectively whack him in 3, 2, 1...
ReplyDeleteYou can't run a government without graft and anybody who thinks you can is an idiot with zero understanding of human nature and massive cognitive issues in the Is/Ought Department.
The smart move is to do as the Chinese do and kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys. Make some high-profile examples of egregious cases to keep the rest of officialdom within reason in their depredations.
Corruption is a fact of human existence. Like other human endeavours at scale it needs to be approached from an animal husbandry perspective.
Make *every* big shot think that he's targeted from yesterday and think you're being smart?... Well I've got an angle on a 99 year lease on 411 Elm Street Dallas going cheap if anyone interested.
If he's legitimate he stands a good chance of suffer a "tragic accident".
ReplyDeleteHonest politicians play by the rules. The opposition has no rules. Just
ask Trump how that works.
Also, although he's positioning himself as a benevolent dictator, it's a very hard act to pull off.
ReplyDeleteLee Kuan Yew in Singapore managed to do it, mostly
Maybe the KMT in Taiwan, though there's lots of room for argument from what I know of the history.
Any others come to mind?
And no, unless you're OK with dropping your political opponents out of helicopters Pinochet doesn't qualify. Though on my grumpier days when contemplating our current governing class the idea has a certain guilty appeal.
I wouldn’t fly on the same plane.
ReplyDeleteWhether justified or not, I can totally agree with "don't talk about it."
ReplyDeleteHer actually bringing the topic up was ipso facto proof she's not ready for national level politics. Not so much for the act itself as displaying a total lack of good political instincts.
Shoot, shovel, and shut up would have been a far wiser course of action. At most, if someone *else* had heard of the incident and raised the topic she might have said something like "I was very sorry it was necessary, but I once had to put a dog down for attacks on people and livestock."
One can only wonder how long he will live now...
ReplyDelete@Javahead - Pinochet did not throw his political opponents out of helicopters. Those were a mere few score communist revolutionary leaders. Totally different thing. They don't even count as people.
ReplyDeleteHow many lives were saved by preventing a communist revolution in Chile? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?
Dictators make it so his people can’t think for themselves as they would be scared to death to make a wrong decision. Plus when said dictator dies, who takes his place? Most likely something worse. I am of the mind if you wouldn’t accept it when your opposition does it, then it is never acceptable.
ReplyDelete