Page 14 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2021 (English)

and they want to see this reflected in society. All very redeemable values to develop a good Government and State policy. They are aware of the world situation, and they know that the political and economic future will end in their hands.
In fact, these convictions and ways of being are already reaching world and Latin American politics, because there is already a new generation of politicians who are struggling to achieve these goals, all under 40 years of age.
This is the case of Sanna Marin, the youngest Prime Minister in the world in Finland at 34 years old. The same happens with the Chancellor or Head of the Government Austria, Sebastián Kurtz, aged 31 and with Oleksiy Honcharuk, Prime Minister of Ukraine aged 35. Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister of New Zealand and is another millennial, a little older, but 39 years old, just like Leo Varadkar, 40, who assumed in 2017 as Prime Minister of Ireland .
The Bukele Affair
In Latin America, this trend is incipient, but it has already started: this group is already facing positions of political, social or economic importance.
In fact, Nayib Bukele, 40-year-old President of El Salvador, is the Region’s first millennial president. The Head of State has used state agencies to harass journalists who are adverse to him, investigate opposition parties, and undermine his government’s supervision. In addition, his allies are drafting a new Constitution, which is expected to be released later this year. He is accused of destroying the checks and balances of Salvadoran democracy, and despite the fact that he does it permanently, the President is very popular.
Elected in 2019 with 53 percent of the vote, 21 points above his closest rival, the latest polls put Bukele’s approval rating well above 80 percent.
How has Bukele managed to amass so much power and remain so popular? His actions are based on a sort of millennial authoritarianism, a distinctive political strategy that combines a traditional populist narrative, classic authoritarian behaviour, and a youthful, modern personal brand built through social media. These three elements work together to give you a formidable political coalition. Through traditional populist appeals, Bukele has successfully framed himself as a supposed antidote to El Salvador’s corrupt and ineffective political establishment.
Bukele describes his move as a historic effort to regain power from a deeply entrenched political elite, whom he calls “the same old
men.” His campaign program, for example, promised to erase the “institutional chiefdoms” and return power to the people. In his inauguration speech, he affirmed that, for the first time, Salvadorans “will decide how they want to be governed. Because now we will have a Government of the people and for the people ”. This populist narrative appealed to many Salvadorans who are tired of a system long tolerant of corruption, crime and poverty, and who yearn for a fresh start.
At the same time, Bukele used authoritarian tactics to point out that his determination goes beyond mere rhetoric. In May 2020, he celebrated in real time the removal of the attorney general and the judges of the Supreme Court: “This is called democracy,” he tweeted. “In 200 years, our country had not tasted it, but now it has.”
In territory where voters do not trust politicians to deliver on their promises, Bukele’s record of backing populist rhetoric with authoritarian attacks on the political establishment quickly broadened his base of support. But although he speaks like a quintessential populist and behaves like a classic autocrat, he differs from the traditional strongman on a critical dimension: he uses social media to project a polished, young personal brand.
Master in the Use of Networks
His sleek and streamlined look, his staples of leather jackets, backwards baseball caps, skinny jeans and aviator glasses, contrasts with the conventional image of a stern leader. Bukele is also known for sharing memes and commenting on sports, video games, and popular culture.
Overall, he is a master at using social media to control his self-image, shape the political narrative around him, and communicate directly with voters: Since 2009, he has tweeted to his 2,8 million followers more than 75,000 times, with an average of more than 16 messages a day. He is, in his own words, “the coolest President in the world.” This modern and social media savvy brand complements Bukele’s populist and authoritarian tactics. For starters, he has allowed him to circumvent traditional party building:
While most politicians rely on strong partisan organizations to reach and mobilize voters, Bukele, who ran for President as the candidate of a small centre-right party, was able to permeate voters through his well-organized operation online and bring them together around a carefully cultivated personal brand.
In addition, thanks to his fresh appearance
and his personal connection with his followers, Bukele mobilized 70 percent of Salvadorans who, as of 2018, said they were not interested in politics. Young voters, who tend to be less interested in this area and more active on social media, gravitated especially toward she. The image helped reassure voters who are in favour of change but fear extremism. Although Salvadorans are generally unhappy with their political system, most identify as centrist.
The Chilean Case
In Chile there is still no millennial President, but after the elections next November, if the polls are confirmed and Gabriel Boric of the leftist Frente Amplio wins, the country will have one since he would take office at the age of 36 and one month on the 11th March 2022.
There are also other millennials in Chile who hold important political positions, especially within the new mayors.
This is the case of Irací Hassler, who won the mayoralty of the Santiago commune to the right, one of the most representative of Chilean politics. She has just turned 30 years old, she walks the streets of Santiago with a backpack with Frida Kahlo’s face embroidered on it. She uses the neutral gender in her communications, she is trilingual, she speaks Portuguese, German and Spanish. She presented herself as a candidate for the Communist Party, with a feminist and anti-inequality speech. She contrasts with her origins, an upper middle- class family with foreign ancestry. In 2011, at the age of 21, she announced to her parents that she had enrolled in the Communist Youth at the university. It was a moment of great youthful effervescence against the first government of Sebastián Piñera. Today Hassler is very popular and has a strong presence on networks such as Twitter or Instagram, which gives him the ability to put issues such as abortion or gender violence on the agenda.
In Chile, the weight of the new millennium left has increased since the last municipal elections and the formation of the Constituent Convention, in which the right lost its right to veto. These triumphs took place due to social unrest due to the great economic inequalities that an extreme free market scheme would have meant. Another case similar to the previous one is that of the mayor of Valparaíso, Jorge Sharp, 36, an independent leftist who also snatched one of the oldest fiefdoms from the right. Another mayor who is shaking the old generations is Macarena Ripamonti, in Viña del Mar, 30, also from the leftist Frente Amplio that replaced Virginia Reginato, who
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