By Hafez Al Mirazi

Name: Nayib Bukele or Najib Boukailah — in Arabic
Title: President of El Salvador
Age: 44

Background:
The beloved guest at the White House recently is Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, and the world’s only head of state of Palestinian descent currently in office.

His father, Armando Bukele (Boukailah), was the son of a Palestinian Christian (Catholic) immigrant from Bethlehem and a mother from the Qattan family, of Greek Orthodox background. Although Boukailah had a successful career in advertising and business, he converted to Islam and became a spiritual leader in the San Salvador mosque. He authored several articles in defense of the Palestinian cause before passing away 10  years ago at the age of 70.

At that time, Bukele was already forging his own path in business, advertising and later politics. He began his political career with the historic leftist FMLN party, eventually becoming mayor of San Salvador.

A pragmatist in faith and politics

Bukele is a pragmatic politician and businessman. He emphasizes to El Salvador’s Catholic Christian majority that he does not identify strictly as Muslim like his father, nor as Christian like his mother. Instead, he describes himself as a believer in God who respects both faiths and visits both churches and mosques.

After internal corruption scandals plagued his former leftist party, Bukele broke away and founded his own movement, “New Ideas”, forming an electoral alliance with a small progressive party. When that party failed to secure enough seats to remain in parliament, Bukele made a surprising political shift — allying with El Salvador’s historic right-wing party, which ultimately propelled him to the presidency.

Under El Salvador’s constitution, presidents are limited to a single five-year term, with no immediate re-election unless another president serves in between — a restriction that had stood since 1944, during the era of dictator General Martínez.

President Trump greets El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele as Bukele arrives at the White House, Monday, April 14. – AP photo

Breaking the mold — and the system

Bukele defied precedent. He launched a nationwide crackdown on gangs that had made El Salvador one of the most dangerous countries in the Americas. Allegations surfaced that he had brokered secret pacts with major gangs to eliminate rival groups, in exchange for avoiding confrontations with the state.

He then constructed Latin America’s largest prison, detaining tens of thousands of suspected criminals without lengthy court procedures.

He also made headlines by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. Despite initial losses, the cryptocurrency rebounded, turning El Salvador into a haven for investors and a hub for “hot money” seeking a home.

When the attorney general and several Supreme Court judges objected to his sweeping executive powers and mass arrests, Bukele removed them and appointed loyalists. He reportedly threatened parliament with security forces if they didn’t approve his legal reforms.

To appease El Salvador’s small but politically influential pro-Israel lobby — which has influence in the U.S. — Bukele visited Israel, not Palestine, opting to pray at the Western Wall while ignoring calls from the local Palestinian-Muslim community to highlight his ancestral roots.

A second term was possible, thanks to loyal judges

In one of his most consequential moves, the judges he had appointed approved his bid to run for a second consecutive term, provided he temporarily step down during the campaign period. Bukele complied, won the 2024 re-election and will now serve until 2029 — at which point he’ll only be 48 years old.

The Bukele–Trump bond

When Trump, now in his second presidential term, needed a partner in his deportation agenda, Bukele was ready to cooperate. He accepted 200 deported migrants from Venezuela into his infamous mega-prison — even after U.S. courts found that at least one of them was a legal U.S. resident, married to an American citizen and had no criminal record.

Smiling at the White House during his recent visit, Bukele shrugged off the controversy with a laughing comment.

“What do you expect me to do — smuggle a prisoner back into the U.S.? That’s not realistic.”

Bukele, now 44, offered advice to Trump, 78 — an age close to that of his late father. Trump, whom Bukele affectionately calls “the leader of the world”, nodded approvingly as the Salvadoran president told reporters, “Isn’t it fair to secure the lives and safety of 350 million Americans, even if it means jailing a few tens of thousands? What’s the problem?”

Bukele’s prison stands ready. And Trump, it seems, has found in the charismatic, authoritarian young leader a bold ally — one who offers a solution to U.S. immigration woes: Send them all to El Salvador, no laws, no trials and no term limits.

— Edited for style.