Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who, since 1 June 2019, has been the 81st president of El Salvador. As a member of the Nuevas Ideas political party, Bukele is the first Salvadoran president since 1989 who was not elected as a candidate of one of the country's two major political parties: the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) or the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), of which Bukele had previously been a member.
Nuevas Ideas is the ruling political party of El Salvador. The party was founded on 25 October 2017 by Nayib Bukele, the then-mayor of San Salvador, and was registered by the Supreme Electoral Court on 21 August 2018. The party's current president is Xavier Zablah Bukele, a cousin of Bukele who has served since March 2020.
Gabriela Roberta Rodríguez de Bukele is a Salvadoran educator, prenatal psychologist and the current First Lady of El Salvador, as the wife of the 43rd President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. She is also a professional ballet dancer and is part of the dance company Fundación Ballet de El Salvador.
The COVID-19 pandemic in El Salvador was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached El Salvador on 18 March 2020. As of 19 September 2021, El Salvador reported 102,024 cases, 3,114 deaths, and 84,981 recoveries. As of that date El Salvador had arrested a total of 2,424 people for violating quarantine orders, and 1,268,090 people had been tested for the virus. On 31 March 2020, the first COVID-19 death in El Salvador was confirmed.
The Hospital El Salvador is a major hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador, which was planned to be the largest hospital in Latin America. The first phase was constructed between March and June 2020 as a conversion of the International Fair and Convention Center and formed part of El Salvador's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, exclusively receiving COVID-19 patients. Originally intended to be temporary, it was announced in June 2020 that the hospital conversion would be made permanent. In its first phase, the hospital has 400 available beds, a number which was expected to increase to 2,000 total beds upon completion of phase 3 of construction. However, phase 3 was not opened as a hospital and instead served as a vaccination facility. With the decline of the pandemic, the facility has been announced as the home for a new medical school and also houses offices for the Salvadoran health ministry.
René Francis Merino Monroy is a Salvadoran military officer who currently serves as the Minister of National Defense. He was appointed to the position by President Nayib Bukele in June 2019, becoming the first officer from the Salvadoran Navy to serve as minister of defense.
Irma Michelle Martha Ninette Sol Schweikert de Castro, commonly known Michelle Sol, is a Salvadoran politician and businesswoman who currently serves as the minister of housing of El Salvador. She previously served as the mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán from 2015 to 2019, and was a candidate for mayor of La Libertad Este in 2024.
David Victoriano Munguía Payés is a former Salvadoran Army general who served as Minister of National Defense of El Salvador from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2019.
José Alejandro Zelaya Villalobo is a Salvadoran politician. He served as Minister of Finance in the cabinet of President Nayib Bukele from 2020 to 2023.
Mario Edgardo Durán Gavidia is a Salvadoran politician and businessman, has worked in the public administration since 2012, he was Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Nayib Bukele, and since 1 May 2021 he is mayor of San Salvador.
Suecy Beverly Callejas Estrada is a Salvadoran lawyer and politician who currently serves as the first vice president of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. She was Minister of Culture from 1 June 2019 to 1 November 2020. She is a member of the Nuevas Ideas political party.
Ernesto Alfredo Castro Aldana is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who currently serves as the president of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. Castro previously served as a secretary and private advisor to Nayib Bukele from 2012 to 2020 when he was elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly from San Salvador in the 2021 legislative election.
General elections were held in El Salvador in February and March 2024. In the first round on 4 February, voters elected the president, vice president, and all 60 deputies of the Legislative Assembly. In the second round on 3 March, voters elected mayors and municipal councils for all 44 of the country's municipalities and all 20 of El Salvador's deputies to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN).
Osiris Luna Meza is a Salvadoran politician who currently serves as the General Director of Penal Centers and the Vice Minister of Justice and Public Security. He previously served as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly from the department of San Salvador from 2018 to 2019.
Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara is a Salvadoran accountant who is a former presidential designate and President of El Salvador from 1 December 2023 to 1 June 2024. She assumed presidential powers and duties after President Nayib Bukele was granted a leave of absence by the Legislative Assembly to focus on his 2024 re-election campaign, which some constitutional lawyers have argued violates the country's constitution.
Héctor Gustavo Villatoro Funes is a Salvadoran politician who currently serves as the Minister of Justice and Public Security. He was appointed by President Nayib Bukele in 2021. During Villatoro's term, he has overseen the Salvadoran gang crackdown which has since led to the arrests of over 74,000 alleged gang members as of 7 December 2023.
Jorge Alejandro Muyshondt Álvarez was a Salvadoran politician who served as a national security advisor to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele from 2019 to 2023. Muyshondt previously served as Bukele's security advisor from 2017 to 2019 while Bukele was mayor of San Salvador.
The blockade of southern Chalatenango began on 24 March 2024 when Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele ordered 5,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers to blockade and enter the four municipalities in southern Chalatenango. The blockade is the second to be implemented in the Chalatenango Department after the blockade of Nueva Concepción which began in May 2023. The blockade aims to dismantle the 18 Sureños clique of the 18th Street gang.
Mauricio Antonio Arriaza Chicas was a Salvadoran police officer who served as the director of the National Civil Police (PNC) of El Salvador from 2019 until his death in a helicopter crash in 2024.
