Photo: Barrons.com
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A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Through a pre-recorded video aired during a Bitcoin conference in Miami, Florida, President Nayib Bukele announced that the crypto currency would be become legal tender in El Salvador. Though Bitcoin has been in use for some time in coastal tourist areas like El Zonte, a newly-approved law makes it obligatory for businesses across the country to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. While the announcement was celebrated by Bitcoin aficionados eager to “save poor Salvadorans,” many more in El Salvador have expressed concern that the volatile value of the crypto coin may have negative impacts on a country already strapped by crushing debt and economic inequality. In an interview with Infoma TVX, feminist economist Julia Evelyn Martínez called on the president to meet with local economists who understand the particularities of the country’s economic challenges. She also called on the population to look beyond the Bitcoin dilemma at big picture, saying, “This is part of a larger economic model that I call hyper-capitalism that [Bukele] wants to build, along with Public Private Partnerships, Special Economic Zones, the flexibilization of labor, and constitutional reforms that will allow all this to happen. This is part of a model that he is putting together piece by piece, but some people who are stuck in the day to day … are not paying attention to the whole puzzle… [of] the economic model that is being imposed on El Salvador.” On June 8, the law was fast-tracked and approved by the New Ideas-controlled legislature; the law is scheduled to take effect 90 days after its approval. CISPES is doing our part to challenge the United States’ role in driving hyper-capitalism in El Salvador and throughout Central America, including by calling on Congress to curb funding for U.S. «development» policies that promote climate change, privatize natural resources and public services, violate workers’ rights and destroy Indigenous and communal lands as well as to end U.S. police and military assistance. Congress will take its first vote on Biden’s proposal to increase security and pro-corporate funding next Wednesday so if you haven’t yet contacted your Rep and Senators, please send them an email (or give them a call!) today. Now is the time to escalate pressure. Help us ensure that not one more taxpayer dollar is used to finance the repressive police and military apparatus or to fill the pockets of private sector interests! In solidarity and resistance,
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