President Nayib Bukele has been in the news recently because of his involvement in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In the latest, President Nayib Bukele faces charges after Cristosal— a Salvadoran nonprofit human rights organization, filed three lawsuits connected to President Nayib Bukele’s regulation of public funds to acquire bitcoin.
The processes are ongoing within the surveillance of numerous national and international bodies. There is an intense call for President Nayib Bukele-led’s government to provide precise, valid and accurate details about these purchases.
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President Nayib Bukele Faces Charges
On the 17th of November 2022, Cristosal — a nonprofit human rights organization, revealed that it had filed three diverse lawsuits against President Nayib Bukele, asking for extensive and accurate details about the origin and the funds used to acquire bitcoin.
Last year, Nayib Bukele invested a significant amount of El-Salvador’s funds into acquiring bitcoin because of the optimistic ambience of massive profits gained by other investors. El Salvador was the first to recognize Bitcoin as a legal currency. The President purchased almost $300 million worth of Bitcoin in 2021 to fund infrastructural development for the Central American nation.
Read more: El Salvador’s Bitcoin project puts $300 million in jeopardy
Ruth Lopez, an anticorruption spokesperson for the group, revealed that one of the lawsuits is attached to the illegality of reforms Bukele had instituted as laws as regards these expenses. Lopez added that $750 million are controlled by Bukele as part of the bitcoin trust created by the central bank of the country illegitimately, contending these laws enabling Bukele’s management of the funds are null and void.
In a similar manner, the second lawsuit is connected with the absence of investigation that the Accounts Court of the Republic, the control organization, has shown on the expenses drawn from the integration of the Bitcoin Law, including the construction of booths, acquisition of ATMs, installation of the platform, and application for the convertibility and management of bitcoin.
Lopez mention, “There is no control on the platform over the identity that buys and sells Bitcoin. Until now, all Salvadorans have are presumptions about how it works and how much has been spent.”
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The third action will be brought to bear before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and is attached to the identity theft over 200 Salvadorans encountered when giving their data to the Chivo Wallet system.
Bitcoin Fear
President Nayib Bukele has been adamant about his hope in bitcoin and has revealed that the country will be embarking on a mindblowing spree of buying a bitcoin a day, indicating his trust in the cryptocurrency market.
Lopez quickly dismisses this, stating that the population hugely doubts bitcoin and does not see it the same way Nayib sees it. For her, these expenses are ridiculous and do not meet the immediate needs of the people.
On this Lopez said,
“The Salvadoran population does not feel identified with bitcoin, but it is also of no use to them, because it is not a population that invests, since it is barely enough for them to eat.”
While some surveys show President Bukele is very popular in the country, bitcoin is a different issue. A survey carried out by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University in June revealed that more than 70% of Salvadorans consider that bitcoin has brought no benefits to them.
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