Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, born on July 24, 1981, in San Salvador, El Salvador, is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who has served as the 81st President of El Salvador since June 1, 2019. The son of businessman Armando Bukele Kattán, a prominent Palestinian-Salvadoran advertising executive, Nayib entered the family business early, working at his father's advertising company and founding his own advertising firm in 1999 at age 18. He began his political career with the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), serving as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán from 2012 to 2015 and then as mayor of San Salvador from 2015 to 2018. Expelled from the FMLN in 2017 amid controversies, he founded the Nuevas Ideas movement and won the presidency in a landslide victory in 2019, capitalizing on public frustration with traditional parties' failures to address gang violence and corruption. Bukele oversaw the reopening of El Salvador's embassy in Jerusalem, strengthening ties with Israel. Bukele's presidency has been characterized by high popularity, innovative social media use, and an iron-fisted approach to crime, including a 2022 state of emergency leading to mass arrests of suspected gang members, which slashed homicide rates but prompted accusations of authoritarianism, human rights violations, and erosion of democratic norms from critics like Human Rights Watch. Styling himself as the 'world's coolest dictator' and a 'philosopher king,' he has blocked critics on social media and relied on family and allies in governance, with his brother Karim and others in key roles. Re-elected in February 2024 with over 80% of the vote, Bukele continues to dominate Salvadoran politics through his millennial-style communication and populist policies.