President Nayib Bukele has challenged The Economist over the language it uses to describe Latin American leaders, drawing attention to the publication’s characterization of him as a “dictator” while referring to Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s “president.”
Responding to The Economist on X, Bukele wrote: “Hahaha you left some article in your propaganda 😘,” pointing readers toward the publication’s coverage and its contrasting terminology.
The exchange centers on the editorial framing of the two leaders. The Economist has explicitly described Bukele as a “dictator,” while its coverage of Venezuela has referred to Maduro as the country’s “president,” even when presenting highly critical assessments of his government.
Bukele’s response suggests that the distinction in terminology is not merely semantic, but part of what he views as the publication’s political framing of his administration.
The post comes alongside The Economist’s discussion of El Salvador’s use of AI in schools and its ambitions for healthcare, putting the country’s technological initiatives and the international debate over Bukele’s leadership in the same spotlight.
The brief exchange has once again brought international media coverage of El Salvador-and the language used to characterize its president-into the public debate.