President Nayib Bukele’s recent post covered several topics including carbon credits, environmentalism, and the cost of cleaning El Salvador’s rivers. This article focuses on one specific aspect of his message: his vision for the country’s development model.
A note on tone: When Bukele referred to the Congo, he was not being dismissive or disrespectful toward the Congolese people. His point was a realistic observation: the Congo is a country extraordinarily rich in minerals, biodiversity, and natural resources, yet it remains trapped in underdevelopment. For Bukele, this represents a cautionary tale — a path that El Salvador must avoid at all costs.
President Nayib Bukele has drawn a clear line in the sand for the future of El Salvador. In a recent post on social media, he responded to a video showing an autonomous robot killing pests with UV light — no chemicals, no pesticides. But he quickly turned the conversation to a much bigger question: what model should El Salvador follow?
His answer was direct and unambiguous:
“The path forward for our country is the path of Japan and Singapore, not the path of the Congo.”
Two paths, one choice
For Bukele, the choice is stark. The Congo represents a model where abundant natural resources do not translate into prosperity or progress for the majority of its people.
Despite its vast mineral wealth and extraordinary biodiversity, the country has not been able to break the cycle of poverty and instability. Japan and Singapore, on the other hand, represent innovation, technology, industrial growth, and rising living standards — achieved through strategic development.
He wrote:
“The key to saving the environment is not looking backward, it’s moving forward.”
And he added:
“The answer is not underdevelopment. The answer is progress.”
Bukele argues that staying poor in the name of environmental protection is not a solution. Development does not have to come at the expense of nature. In fact, he says, it provides the resources needed to restore and protect it.
A lesson from China
To illustrate his point, Bukele referenced China’s transformation:
“When China was poor, the air was so polluted that people could barely see the blue sky. Today, blue skies have returned to their cities. Development does not only create wealth, it also provides the resources needed to restore and protect the environment.”
A critique of misplaced environmentalism
Bukele also took aim at environmentalists who, in his view, prioritize preserving biodiversity over human well-being:
“Some environmentalists want us to preserve every aspect of our biodiversity, including the mosquitoes for example, so that researchers can fly in once every ten years from their universities (which build particle accelerators and billion-dollar laboratories with their pocket money), study our ecosystems, and count how many people died from dengue outbreaks.”
For Bukele, this approach is detached from the real challenges facing developing nations. Protecting nature cannot come at the cost of human lives.
El Salvador’s future
The president’s message is clear: El Salvador will not follow the Congo into underdevelopment. It will follow the path of Japan and Singapore — a path of progress, innovation, and prosperity.
“The answer is not underdevelopment. The answer is progress.”
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