There are few legal constraints, if any, in El Salvador. Since taking office in 2019, Mr Bukele has stacked the courts, eliminated bodies which might check his power and won control of the national assembly. Stacked with Mr Bukele’s allies, the Supreme Court reinterpreted the constitution to permit his re-election in 2024.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is meeting with President Trump Monday as the U.S. has ramped up its deportations to the Central American nation. The big picture: Bukele — the self-described "world's coolest dictator" —agreed to warehouse migrants and criminals deported from the U.