{"id":23886,"date":"2022-09-24T17:20:23","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T17:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=23886"},"modified":"2022-09-27T20:45:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T20:45:47","slug":"el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-one-year-on-with-the-worlds-coolest-dictator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/09\/24\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-one-year-on-with-the-worlds-coolest-dictator\/","title":{"rendered":"El Salvador&#8217;s Bitcoin Law  \u2014 one year on, with the World&#8217;s Coolest Dictator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>El Salvador&#8217;s Bitcoin Law came into force on 7 September 2021 \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/09\/07\/el-salvador-bitcoin-day-how-it-went\/\">and what a day it was!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/09\/17\/foreign-policy-el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-is-a-farce\/burning-chivo-kiosk\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20568\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20568\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/burning-chivo-kiosk.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/burning-chivo-kiosk.jpg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/burning-chivo-kiosk-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/burning-chivo-kiosk-348x215.jpg 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><small><i>A burning Chivo kiosk from a protest on 15 September 2021 &#8230; actually set alight as a false flag by <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/09\/17\/foreign-policy-el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-is-a-farce\/\">government-sponsored provocateurs!<\/a><\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>How&#8217;s bitcoin going, a year later?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">There\u2019s almost no use of bitcoin as currency. The official Chivo Wallet is hardly used, and they never did get it working properly. Businesses have taken down their \u201cwe accept bitcoin\u201d signs.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">There\u2019s almost no use of bitcoin for remittances.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds have gone up in smoke \u2014 which is as if the US spent hundreds of <i>billions<\/i> \u2014 with nothing to show for it.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Crypto crashed. As well as screwing over local bitcoin holders, this halved the face value of the government bitcoin reserve.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">El Salvador can\u2019t borrow internationally. The IMF won\u2019t talk to them while bitcoin is in place. The price of Salvadoran sovereign debt has fallen through the floor, as has El Salvador\u2019s credit rating.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">The Bitcoin Volcano Bonds supposedly had $1.5 billion of buyer interest lined up \u2014 then Russia invaded Ukraine, and those buyers vanished.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Ground has not been broken for Bitcoin City. I\u2019m pretty sure it never will.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">A bunch of American so-called libertarians got <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/04\/20\/el-salvador-bukele-goes-full-dictator-chivo-theft-bitcoin-towers\/\">flown around the country in military helicopters,<\/a> though. Military escorts are the true meaning of liberty \u2014 for a few people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bitcoin is yet another failed initiative from President Nayib Bukele \u2014 a huge splashy announcement, a lot of money set on fire, and not much to show for it.<\/p>\n<p>The big news in El Salvador right now is that Bukele put the country under a state of emergency (a \u201cState of Exception\u201d to the constitution), and has detained about 2% of the adult male population. He\u2019s also building a giant new prison to keep these people in. And the country is running out of money. El Salvador has much bigger problems than bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yrpgZtvwqh\">pic.twitter.com\/yrpgZtvwqh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alecus (@Alecus62) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alecus62\/status\/1567260358674456579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Nobody uses bitcoin<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cNo one really talks about Bitcoin here anymore. It\u2019s kind of been forgotten,\u201d says former Banco Central de Reserva president Carlos Acevedo. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019d call that a failure, but it certainly hasn\u2019t been a success.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-09-03\/el-salvador-had-a-bitcoin-btc-revolution-hardly-anybody-showed-up\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Fernando Alvarez, David Argente and Diana Van Patten wrote up bitcoin in El Salvador, based on \u201ca representative national face-to-face survey\u201d earlier this year. The remaining users are young men who are into bitcoin for its own sake, and already have good access to banking. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidargente.com\/_files\/ugd\/b05023_7825615207654784864b4c4cc4ec6550.pdf\"><i>David Argente<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>In September, a survey by La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica found that 27.6% of respondents had used the official Chivo wallet at all \u2014 but only 2.3% in the week up to the survey date. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.laprensagrafica.com\/elsalvador\/Cajeros-Chivo-casi-en-desuso-20220909-0095.html\"><i>La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Businesses in San Salvador confirm the downward trend in bitcoin usage. Merchants complain of Chivo\u00a0<em>still<\/em> not working properly. A lot of merchants have stopped accepting bitcoin at all: \u201cpeople don&#8217;t even ask about it any more. The truth is, it&#8217;s not profitable.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/negocios\/negocios-san-salvador-retiran-rotulos-bitcoin\/960087\/2022\/\"><i>elsalvador.com\/AFP<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/negocios\/bitcoin-criptomonedas-ventas-\/969113\/2022\/\"><i>elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Chivo and bitcoin have barely been used as a remittance channel. From September 2021 to June 2022, $108.9 million in remittances arrived via crypto wallets or Chivo. That\u2019s just 1.9% of the $5.76 billion in total remittances received by Salvadorans over that period. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eleconomista.net\/cripto\/Minado-de-criptomonedas-pierde-energia-20220624-0018.html\"><i>El Economista<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m told that most or all Chivo kiosks have been non-operational since around February \u2014 the public didn\u2019t care once they had their $30 sign-up bonus. Here are photos of a Chivo kiosk being dismantled \u2014 supposedly to be moved elsewhere, though the new locations for the machines remained empty as of August. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/scbsm\/status\/1557107327966273536\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/fotogalerias\/noticias-fotogalerias\/trasladan-cajero-chivo-wallet-plaza-barrios-centro-san-salvador\/985971\/2022\/\"><i>Elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/negocios\/ministro-hacienda-afirma-poblacion-usa-bitcoin-chivo-wallet\/986670\/2022\/\"><i>Elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/09\/24\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-one-year-on-with-the-worlds-coolest-dictator\/chvio-kiosk-being-dismantled\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23920\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23920\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/chvio-kiosk-being-dismantled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/chvio-kiosk-being-dismantled.jpg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/chvio-kiosk-being-dismantled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/chvio-kiosk-being-dismantled-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><small><i>Chivo kiosk being dismantled, by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/scbsm\/status\/1557107327966273536\">@scbsm on Twitter<\/a><\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Where did the money go?<\/h3>\n<p>The bitcoin infrastructure seems to have been paid for out of previous borrowing. The State Financial Management Report for 2021, chapter 3, says the bitcoin project was financed from $375.9 million of loans previously taken out by the government. \u201cCHIVO WALLET\u201d is listed on page 27 of chapter 3. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.laprensagrafica.com\/economia\/El-Salvador-Clinica-Chivo-Pets-se-financio-en-realidad-con-prestamos-20220616-0048.html\"><i>La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/transparencia.mh.gob.sv\/downloads\/pdf\/700-DGCG-IF-2021-20214.pdf\"><i>Portal de Transparencia Fiscal<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220619234635\/https:\/\/transparencia.mh.gob.sv\/downloads\/pdf\/700-DGCG-IF-2021-20214.pdf\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish, PDF; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.laprensagrafica.com\/economia\/Perdidas-para-El-Salvador-por-caida-del-bitcoin-representarian-un-0.5--del-Presupuesto-General-segun-ministro-Zelaya-20220615-0019.html\"><i>La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The crash in the price of bitcoin has led to local concern about how much money the country has lost on its bitcoin stash. You and I know that the money was lost when they bought the bitcoins \u2014 but the loss in face value is upsetting people. Zelaya\u2019s response in June was &#8220;And how much did Funes steal? How much did former President Saca steal?&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/negocios\/bitcoin-ministro-de-hacienda-alejandro-zelaya\/966561\/2022\/\"><i>Elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>In one of Bukele\u2019s few tweets about bitcoin that were in Spanish, he said in June: \u201cI see that some people are worried or anxious about the price of #Bitcoin in the market. My advice: stop looking at the graph and enjoy life. If you invested in #BTC your investment is safe and its value will grow a lot after the bear market. Patience is the key.\u201d I\u2019m sure that\u2019s very comforting. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mobile.twitter.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1538355546868301825\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/el-salvador-bitcoin-president-says-be-patient-as-price-falls-803265ec3faaf0a369f74efd02fe7afb\"><i>AP<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"qme\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Alecus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Alecus<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YT7zH5xrOy\">pic.twitter.com\/YT7zH5xrOy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alecus (@Alecus62) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alecus62\/status\/1569855926500265995?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Brother, can you spare a dime<\/h3>\n<p>Bukele spent money like water to make his voters happy. This did make his voters happy \u2014 if there was an election tomorrow, Bukele would win. The middle classes aren\u2019t so keen on him, but the poor got some material resources, and they think he\u2019s no more corrupt than any Salvadoran president has been.<\/p>\n<p>But El Salvador doesn\u2019t print its own money \u2014 the official national currency is the US dollar. This means the national budget has to balance every year. The country makes up the deficit by borrowing on the international financial markets.<\/p>\n<p>I, and others, think bitcoin was an attempt by Bukele to print his own dollars \u2014 either by luring in bitcoins and treating them as dollars, or by creating unbacked dollars in the Chivo app. This was the theme of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/06\/15\/foreign-policy-el-salvador-is-printing-money-with-bitcoin\/\">my first Foreign Policy piece on El Salvador\u2019s bitcoin misadventure,<\/a> in June 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Bukele didn\u2019t manage to print dollars with bitcoin. A lot of international loans are coming due. A default would be devastating, as it would be much harder for El Salvador to borrow again and find any interested lenders. Look at how the Bitcoin Bonds failed to find buyers.<\/p>\n<p>An internal document from the Ministry of Finance in July set out three scenarios to avoid a default in 2023, maybe without help from the IMF \u2014 most likely sending the country from profligate public spending into austerity. One plan includes pension \u201creform\u201d \u2014 <i>i.e.,<\/i> stealing the pensions. Ricardo Valencia wrote a commentary thread on Twitter. [<a href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/es\/202207\/el_salvador\/26262\/Los-planes-de-Gobierno-para-evitar-la-crisis-fiscal-reforma-de-pensiones-cr%C3%A9ditos-y-vender-m%C3%A1s-deuda-estatal.htm\"><i>El Faro<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ricardovalp\/status\/1546504315543490560\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>In July, Bukele put forward a plan for El Salvador to buy its own distressed debt and write it off. The debt is currently trading at a stupendous discount \u2014 the 2023 bonds were around 75 cents on the dollar, and the 2025 bonds were around 30 cents.<\/p>\n<p>Buying the bonds would be far cheaper than paying the bonds in full at maturity, and would avoid a default. Nigeria did something similar previously.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a good idea in the circumstances \u2014 but the circumstances came from bad ideas.<\/p>\n<p>The government issued a press release setting out the offer. 54% of 2025 bond holders were happy to sell up now \u2014 which was more than enough for the $360 million the government had on hand to spend. Fitch Ratings downgraded El Salvador from CC to CCC, though. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-07-26\/el-salvador-plans-to-buy-back-its-deeply-distressed-dollar-bonds\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/the-republic-of-el-salvador-announces-an-invitation-for-offers-to-tender-for-cash-its-2023-notes-and-2025-notes-301622290.html\"><i>press release<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eleconomista.net\/economia\/Un-54--de-tenedores-de-bonos-de-2025-decidio-vender-20220921-0016.html\"><i>El Economista<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/11\/21\/el-salvador-a-1-billion-bitcoin-bond-to-set-up-bitcoin-city\/bukele-bitcoin-city-official\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-21114\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21114\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bukele-bitcoin-city-official.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bukele-bitcoin-city-official.jpg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bukele-bitcoin-city-official-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/bukele-bitcoin-city-official-348x215.jpg 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Don\u2019t take me down to Bitcoin City<\/h3>\n<p>Bukele was going to build <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/11\/21\/el-salvador-a-1-billion-bitcoin-bond-to-set-up-bitcoin-city\/\">Bitcoin City,<\/a> a libertarian charter city in La Uni\u00f3n, in the south of the country. This would be funded by Bitcoin Volcano Bonds, announced in November 2021. These would be administered by iFinex, the owners of the Bitfinex crypto exchange and the Tether stablecoin.<\/p>\n<p>The Bitcoin Bonds supposedly had enough buyers for $1.5 billion in bonds. Russia invaded Ukraine &#8230; and then those buyers weren\u2019t there any more.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t have smoking gun evidence that the prospective buyers were sanctioned Russian billionaires, but the timing is interesting. Remember that sanctioned Russian billionaires included guys who <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/03\/11\/news-sanctioned-russians-try-to-dump-bitcoin-no-crypto-atms-in-the-uk-bored-apes-underwear-fails-associated-press-nft-plan-football-sponsorships-how-facebooks-diem-died\/\">tried to cash out $2 billion of bitcoins in a single sale,<\/a> thinking that\u2019s something you could do. So I\u2019m sure Bukele or iFinex could have convinced at least a few of them that Bitcoin Bonds were a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>iFinex CFO Paolo Ardoino told Fortune in August that the Bitcoin Bonds would be delayed until late 2022. \u201cArdoino said government officials have told him that they have a final draft, with passage expected in the next couple of weeks.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/08\/30\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-bond-delayed-again\/\"><i>Fortune<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Ground hasn\u2019t been broken yet for Bitcoin City \u2014 and I would be surprised if it ever was \u2014 but the idea already got a thousand people marching in San Salvador on 7 June to protest the disastrous environmental impact that Bitcoin City would have. The important point here is that marching in the streets is back in fashion in El Salvador. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/es\/minuto-a-minuto\/20220607-ecologistas-salvadore%C3%B1os-temen-impacto-ambiental-por-ciudad-bitc%C3%B3in\"><i>AFP<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/09\/24\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-one-year-on-with-the-worlds-coolest-dictator\/worlds-coolest-dictator\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23908\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23908\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/worlds-coolest-dictator.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/worlds-coolest-dictator.jpg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/worlds-coolest-dictator-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><small><i>Bukele&#8217;s Twitter bio from late September 2021<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>World\u2019s coolest dictator<\/h3>\n<p>El Salvador has had no effective separation of powers for the past year. Bukele has subverted all institutions of civil society that could slow him down.<\/p>\n<p>Bukele routinely puts anything he likes through the Legislative Assembly. He&#8217;s removed judges that were opposed to him, including the entire Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. Bukele\u2019s new Constitutional Chamber, arguably illegally installed, issued an opinion that he can run for President again \u2014 despite the constitution limiting presidents to a single term. And he\u2019s now declared his intention to run again. [<a href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202209\/opinion\/26397\/Bukele-Announces-a-Dictatorship.htm\"><i>El Faro<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The only remaining civil institution is journalism \u2014 and the government has tried to make reporting on the gangs illegal. Journalists have continued to report on the gangs, many of them from exile. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2022-06-09\/nayib-bukele-el-salvador-el-faro-journalists\"><i>LA Times<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cState of Exception\u201d was declared in March, after a weekend with 87 murders over Friday 25 to Sunday 27 March. In May, news came out of audio of Carlos Marroqu\u00edn, one of Bukele&#8217;s key government officials, negotiating with the gangs. The murders in March were because negotiations broke down. \u00c9lmer Canales Rivera, &#8220;Crook of Hollywood,&#8221; the national leader of the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) gang, had an active order for extradition to the US. In fact, he was released by El Salvador in 2021, Marroqu\u00edn escorted him to Guatemala, then he went to Mexico. [<a href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202205\/el_salvador\/26177\/Collapsed-Government-Talks-with-MS-13-Sparked-Record-Homicides-in-El-Salvador-Audios-Reveal.htm\"><i>El Faro<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202207\/el_salvador\/26264\/Transnational-Escape-of-MS-13-Leader-%E2%80%9CCrook%E2%80%9D-Caught-on-Social-Media.htm\"><i>El Faro<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Police have quotas to arrest a certain number of people, so they tend to grab poor-looking younger men with tattoos. Local human rights organisation Cristosal reports thousands of arbitrary arrests. Most detainees were allowed little or no communication with their families, who have to go looking for them in the prison system. [<a href=\"https:\/\/enfoca.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Informe-situacional-30-di%CC%81as-del-estado-de-excepcio%CC%81n.pdf\"><i>Enfoca<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The arrest of Mario de la Cruz Pe\u00f1a Garc\u00eda got a lot of attention \u2014 because he\u2019s a famed Bitcoin Beach street vendor selling &#8220;Minutas Bitcoin,&#8221; where he charges a few satoshis for shaved ice. He was detained because he had decades-old gang tattoos from his wayward youth. He was released after considerable protest. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/nacional\/minutas-bitcoin-playa-zonte-detenido\/951083\/2022\/\"><i>Elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Bukele arrested political tweeter Luis Rivas, \u201cEl Comisionado,\u201d for tweeting a picture of the president\u2019s brother, Karim Bukele, getting a presidential police escort to the beach while not in fact even being a government official. The charge is \u201ccontempt.\u201d Rivas tweeted a whole thread of Chivo problems in December 2021. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/m7g73q\/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-arrested-man-twitter\"><i>Vice<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_elcomisionado_\/status\/1472326380620632064\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Bukele is building a jail for more than 40,000 prisoners \u2014 a \u201cCentro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo\u201d (Terrorism Confinement Centre) in San Vicente. Now, you might think that described some sort of concentration camp. The prison is being built by Omni Inversiones, who were also involved in the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/02\/27\/el-salvador-bitcoin-no-naked-day-trading-chivo-pets-bitcoin-italia-visits-astrocasino\/\">Chivo Pets veterinary hospital.<\/a> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/fotogalerias\/noticias-fotogalerias\/imagenes-construccion-megapenal-san-vicente\/971520\/2022\/\"><i>Elsalvador.com<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.laprensagrafica.com\/elsalvador\/Nuevo-penal-es-construido-por-empresa-detras-de-Chivo-Pets-y-Fase-3-de-Hospital-El-Salvador-20220622-0071.html\"><i>La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>What do actual gang members do? They use bitcoin. Yonatan Josu\u00e9 Obando Pleitez was arrested in July on allegations of being a gang member linked to a structure extorting money via Chivo Wallet. Police seized $50,000 in cryptocurrencies and $20,000 in cash. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.laprensagrafica.com\/elsalvador\/Cobraban-extorsiones-por-Chivo-Wallet-20220711-0065.html\"><i>La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Bukele also appeared on Tucker Carlson\u2019s show on Fox News to talk himself up as tough on crime, and protest how unfair the Biden administration is to him. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1572934304509956098\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Other summaries of the year of bitcoin<\/h3>\n<p>There are many good articles on the failure of bitcoin in El Salvador. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/travel\/2022\/07\/06\/el-salvador-bitcoin-beach\/\"><i>Washington Post<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/el-salvador-bitcoin-law-volcano-bonds-nayib-bukele-1388472\/\"><i>Rolling Stone<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2022\/07\/11\/el-salvador-forced-citizens-use-bitcoin-what-happened\/\"><i>Daily Telegraph<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2022\/05\/12\/el-salvador-bitcoin-currency-struggles-00030422?cid=apn\"><i>Politico<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The one in New Scientist includes quotes from me and Mario G\u00f3mez. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2324810-what-will-the-crypto-crash-mean-for-bitcoin-nation-el-salvador\/\"><i>New Scientist<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman\u2019s piece in The Intercept is particularly good, based on a visit to El Salvador. [<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/07\/22\/bitcoin-crypto-el-salvador-nayib-bukele\/\"><i>The Intercept<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Scam Economy has a couple of episodes on El Salvador and Bitcoin &#8211; with Mario G\u00f3mez, and one just released with Domingo Flores. These are required listening. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EA-s8gLslH0\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q25JwSJBAeE\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Ricardo Valencia is a Salvadoran living in California. He regularly comments on the situation at home. He wrote a summary of the year of bitcoin for Univision. You should follow his tweets and his pieces in El Faro. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.univision.com\/amp\/univision-news\/opinion\/one-year-on-bitcoin-has-done-little-for-poor-in-el-salvador\"><i>Univision<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ricardovalp\/\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/es\/archivo?f_search_keywords=ricardo+valencia&amp;tpl=84&amp;ls-src0=&amp;f_search_mode=1&amp;f_search_level=1&amp;f_search_scope=title&amp;f_search_articles=Buscar\"><i>El Faro<\/i><\/a><i>, in Spanish and English<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Next episode: all the ridiculous detail I couldn\u2019t fit into this post!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update:<\/strong> Hello to the Troll Center! No, I&#8217;m not posting your idiot comments. All of which were posted from the US. There are plenty of other places for you to post dumb things.<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;No one really talks about Bitcoin here anymore. It\u2019s kind of been forgotten.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2405,21,353,3255,2366,2782,3258,2305,3256,1357,3257,2307,3260,3259],"class_list":["post-23886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-alejandro-zelaya","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin-city","tag-carlos-acevedo","tag-chivo","tag-chivo-pets","tag-el-comisionado","tag-el-salvador","tag-elmer-canales-rivera","tag-ifinex","tag-mario-de-la-cruz-pena-garcia","tag-nayib-bukele","tag-tucker-carlson","tag-yonatan-josue-obando-pleitez"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/alecus-bitcoin-2021-11-05-splash.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23886"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23924,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23886\/revisions\/23924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}