The president of El Salvador seems to have put bitcoin aside because of gangs wreaking havoc or a lack of interest in crypto?
Until recently, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele’s Twitter account was filled with messages in support of Bitcoin, as well as attacks on those who dare to criticize the country’s decision to make BTC legal. But ever since he faced a spate of gang killings last month, his focus has been on containing the violence ravaging the Central American nation.
El Salvador’s president appears to have put bitcoin aside
The country has even declared a “state of emergency”with measures that some say severely restrict the rights of Salvadorans. President Bukele confirmed that he wants this regime to be extended for another 30 days to lead the fight against the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs.
On his Twitter account, which is followed by 3.8 million people, bitcoin and other memes have been replaced with pictures of gang members in handcuffs. No murders were reported in El Salvador on Saturday, and more than 16,000 “terrorists”have been arrested in the past 29 days, according to the president. While several Salvadoran polls seem to support the president’s approach to gangs, human rights groups say the laws “endanger all Salvadorans”and some completely innocent people are being detained for no reason. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, El Salvador has the second highest prison population in the world after the United States.
Is it because of the gangs wreaking havoc or because of the lack of interest in cryptocurrencies?
El Salvador is regularly talked about for its vision of cryptocurrencies as it has raised BTC to the same status as the US dollar, but today’s restrictions on everyday freedoms and the many reports of arbitrary arrests may raise some embarrassing questions from crypto enthusiasts.
Naib Bukele was scheduled to attend the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami earlier this month, but on the eve of the opening of the event, he canceled his visit “due to unforeseen circumstances in [his] country.” Last week, a former finance minister from El Salvador hinted that the weakening of bitcoin was due to a lack of investor interest. Carlos Acevedo, former president of the country’s central bank, said: “First they talked in January, then in March, then the Digital Assets Law was not ready, then pensions were a priority. Now comes the question of security; I think the government has realized that there is not enough interest in the markets.”