At the 2025 Family Business Summit in San Salvador, President Nayib Bukele made a striking declaration: “Hopefully, in the future, we’ll be remembered more for the economic miracle than the security miracle.”
This statement marks a pivotal shift in El Salvador’s narrative—from a country once notorious as the “world’s most dangerous” to a nation now betting its legacy on becoming a economic powerhouse in Latin America..
But can a nation of 6.3 million people transform hard-won security into sustainable prosperity? Here’s the blueprint—and the hurdles.
1. The Security Miracle: Foundation of Trust
Bukele’s security reforms are undisputed:
- Homicides plummeted: From 103 per 100k (2015) to 7.8 (2023), per government data.
- Tourism boom: 2nd fastest-growing tourism sector globally (2024 World Tourism Organization).
- Investor confidence: FDI rose 37% since 2022, driven by tech, and hospitality.
2. The Economic Vision: Beyond “Low-Hanging Fruit”
While tourism thrives (“low-hanging fruit,” as Bukele called it), the president insists diversification is key:
- Bitcoin gamble: Legal tender since 2021, yet only 12% use it daily (Central Bank survey, 2024).
- Infrastructure push: A $1B new airport, port expansions, and highway networks to boost trade.
- Friendshoring pitch: Positioning El Salvador as a stable, dollarized ally for U.S. nearshoring.
- Becoming a technology hub: something the government of El Salvador has been working on since Bukele first took office. Turning El Salvador into a technology hub.
The Numbers Don’t Lie—Yet:
- GDP growth: 2.8% (2023), below regional peers like Panama (6.1%).
- Debt crisis: Public debt hit 84% of GDP (2023), limiting fiscal flexibility.
- Poverty: 26% of Salvadorans still live below the poverty line.
3. Bukele’s Four-Pillar Strategy
In his speech, the president outlined priorities:
- “Stability sells”: “We’re dollarized—no 20% overnight currency crashes here”.
- “Bet on tech”: Bitcoin adoption, AI integration in governance, and tax breaks for tech startups.
- “Politics without drama”: Leveraging his 90% approval rating as a “guarantee of policy continuity.”
- “Legacy over profits”: Appealing to family businesses to “build generational wealth, not just quarterly returns.”
4. The Road Ahead: From “Safe” to “Thriving”
Bukele identified sectors for growth:
- Construction: Addressing a 1.2 million housing deficit.
- Renewable energy: Geothermal projects powered by volcanoes (already generating 25% of electricity).
- Agro-industry.
- Tech hubs.
“We want to be a country with full business freedom, capitalist, pro-business, a government as strong as possible but as small as possible (with no fat, only muscle), but that muscle should go toward teaching how to fish, investing in education, investing in productive infrastructure, and health infrastructure.“
Words from Nayib Bukele to the same business leaders but in a different meeting held during those same days.
If you want to watch the full speech, below is the complete video. Bukele’s words mentioned in the title of this post can be heard at minute 11:47.
In the video, the speech we discuss in this post was delivered in the first 18 minutes. The rest of the video is about a meeting they held the following day and other meetings they had at some point with different event guests.
As the president said: If we did the impossible with security, why not with the economy? The world watches—skeptically, hopefully, and keenly.
