Bukelismo
Last Sunday Nayib Bukele and his New Ideas party swept the elections in El Salvador. President Bukele is not only popular in his country, he is the most popular president in all of Latin America. He offers a new direction for the politics of Latin America, which has swung between neoliberalism and socialism. The reson why is clear. While these two seem to offer coherent ideologies, in practice they have been nothing more than masks to cover the actions of self seeking and corrupt politicians. Instead Bukelś policies have been designed for the benefit of the people and not himself. Thus the public has responded with enthusiasm for them.
Even though Bukele is popular, it's unlikely that his poliical program will soon be followed by the other nations of South America. El Salvador is a small, homogeneuos country. Its people could unite behind one political platform. Even in El Salvador you have the traditional base of the left in the universities and trade unions. Countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina are riven with political divisions and I don't see how they would unite behind any platfoem. Even Ecuador is divided between the indigenous and non-indigenous populations, which ha led to protests in the past. Also, the gangs in El Salvador made it easy for the police to identify members with gang tattoos. Just ask a young man to remove his shirt to see if he is a gang member. I don't believe gangs elsewhere are quite so brazen.
Ending gang violence means identfying gang members. Over the longer term the combination of the modern surveilance state with artificial intelligence will enable governments to arrest gang members for financial crimes. If people are willing to put up with that level of government control and surveilance. The tradeoff will always be between liberty and security, today in El Salvador and tomorrow in the First World.