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El Salvador’s Bukele introduces bitcoin as legal tender - The Washington Post

SAN SALVADOR — Salvadorans awoke to a partially bitcoinized economy Tuesday when a landmark law to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender took effect.

The measure, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/06/bitcoin-el-salvador/" target=_blank>championed by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele</a> in part to ease the flow of remittances from Salvadorans in the United States to family back home, has made this Central American nation the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/12/el-salvador-bitcoin-volcano-faq/" target=_blank>largest bitcoin experiment</a> to date.

Many Salvadorans say they want no part in it.

“It was imposed,” said Silvano Moya, a 26-year-old call center employee, who joined an anti-bitcoin protest in the capital on Tuesday. “The only thing we know up until now is that the costs are going to come from our taxes. ”

Bukele, 40, often described as Latin America's first millennial president, announced the initiative in Miami in June; El Salvador’s legislative assembly pushed it through in a few hours.

“We should break the paradigms of the past,” Bukele tweeted before the law took effect at midnight. “El Salvador has the right to advance toward the First World.”

El Salvador’s president wants to make country world’s first to use bitcoin as legal tender

The law requires businesses to accept bitcoin payments, but convoluted government statements have caused confusion about whether its use is optional or obligatory, and the rollout on Tuesday was marred by glitches. The U.S. dollar will continue to circulate as an official currency.

Bukele has promised adopting bitcoin will cut fees for Salvadoran migrants sending money home, help the unbanked gain access to financial services and attract foreign investment. As of Tuesday morning, he had bought 550 bitcoin, worth roughly $25 million, with public funds.

President Bukele Speaks To Congress Since Ousting Attorney General And Supreme Court

Bloomberg

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/17/world-bank-bitcoin-el-salvador/" target=_blank>Economists have warned of the potential havoc</a> Bukele’s bitcoin gamble could wreak on the Salvadoran economy, given the currency’s volatility. The country is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a $1 billion dollar loan; the IMF has criticized the move to bitcoin.

Álvaro Trigueros, an economist at the Salvadoran Foundation for Social and Economic Development, called making bitcoin legal tender “unjustifiable,” and said it could cause an economic crisis.

“The currency is unstable and sometimes it will increase and sometimes it will decrease,” he said. “There's absolutely nothing we can do to tip the balance in favor of an increase or decrease. It's like playing at the casino. It's unknown.”

From midnight to 11 a.m. Tuesday, the price of bitcoin fell nearly 23 percent to $42,830.77. It later rose above $46,000, a drop of about 13 percent.

The government on Tuesday launched its digital bitcoin wallet, an app called “Chivo,” — literally, a male goat, but also Salvadoran slang for “cool.” ATMs emblazoned with the name, guarded by soldiers, were installed throughout the country in the lead-up to implementation day. By Tuesday, businesses were expected to be ready to accept the payment.

What you need to know about El Salvador’s plan to use volcano-powered bitcoin as legal tender

By 9 a.m., hundreds of people gathered at the Salvador del Mundo monument to protest in one of the largest actions against a Bukele policy since he took office in June 2019.

“For the Salvadoran people who could be affected, we don't want this currency,” said Gladis Elizabeth Benítez, a 44-year-old who works as a market vendor. “Maybe it favors the companies and people with money, but for the middle, working and lower class, we feel this isn't going to benefit us.”

Bukele has enjoyed popularity ratings in the 80s and 90s, some of the highest in the region, even through the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-coronavirus-quarantine/2020/03/12/d920e9a4-6404-11ea-8a8e-5c5336b32760_story.html" target="_blank">coronavirus pandemic</a>. But critics say he has grown <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/leaders-in-el-salvador-and-across-latin-america-leaning-on-the-military-to-assert-power/2020/02/11/d1265418-4c22-11ea-967b-e074d302c7d4_story.html" target="_blank">increasingly authoritarian</a>, worrying civil society organizations and the Biden administration, which has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/10/biden-salvador-guatemala-bukele-corruption-migration/" target="_blank">prioritized strengthening democratic institutions and fighting corruption in Central America</a>.

When Bukele’s party <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/salvador-bukele-legislative-midterm-election-authoritarian/2021/02/28/5f2ac302-77c9-11eb-8115-9ad5e9c02117_story.html" target=_blank>assumed a supermajority in Congress</a> in May, it immediately moved to replace the attorney general and constitutional court judges, in apparent violation of Salvadoran law. In the past week, legislators approved a law to remove one-third of the country’s judges and a new constitutional court ruled Bukele can seek reelection in 2024, contrary to a constitutional ban on consecutive terms.

The bitcoin law in particular is making Salvadorans doubt the president.

“Everything he's done has been good, but not this,” said Ulisses Edgardo Samayoa Villalobos, a 29-year-old street vendor. “He didn't ask the people. He doesn't see all the harm it's causing.”

Samayoa Villalobos said he will not accept bitcoin payments at his candy stand. He can’t risk losing any of the $40 he earns on a typical day.

Workers at nearby businesses — a dollar store, a bakery and a chicken restaurant — said they were not yet accepting bitcoin but were planning to do so soon. McDonald's said it was prepared.

The Chivo app faced technological hurdles the first day. Bukele tweeted early Tuesday that the government wallet was malfunctioning. He assured citizens the government was working on fixing the servers.

“Like any innovation, the process of bitcoin in El Salvador has a learning curve,” Bukele tweeted Monday night. “Every path to the future is like this and everything won't be achieved in one day, nor one month.”

World Bank declines to help El Salvador adopt bitcoin, citing environmental and transparency concerns

Some citizens were hesitant to download the app for fear of privacy concerns because it requires personal information.

“We don't have any guarantee that he isn't going to use the information against us,” said Moya, the protester. At a protest days before, uniformed police officers took photos of protesters, stoking fear in a country that suffered government repression during the 12-year civil war that ended in 1992.

Maria Elba Montoya Menjívar, a 48-year-old selling pupusas near the protest, said she won’t accept bitcoin payments because she doesn’t have a phone and can’t read.

She voted for Bukele back in 2019. But she has recently grown more critical: “Is it possible we made a mistake?”

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/salvador-bukele-legislative-midterm-election-authoritarian/2021/02/28/5f2ac302-77c9-11eb-8115-9ad5e9c02117_story.html" target=_blank>El Salvador’s leader wins control of legislature in midterm vote; critics fear rising authoritarianism</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/leaders-in-el-salvador-and-across-latin-america-leaning-on-the-military-to-assert-power/2020/02/11/d1265418-4c22-11ea-967b-e074d302c7d4_story.html" target="_blank">Showdown in El Salvador shows growing role of military in Latin American democracies</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/el-salvador-prison-crackdown-nayib-bukele/2020/04/27/5d3cea4c-88c9-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html" target=_blank>Photos show El Salvador’s crackdown on imprisoned gang members</a>

Anna-Cat Brigida is a freelance journalist who covers politics and culture in Latin America.

Anna-Cat Brigida

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El Salvador’s Bukele introduces bitcoin as legal tender

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World

El Salvador is now the world’s largest bitcoin experiment. Salvadorans say they want no part in it.

Tropical storm warnings flank the hurricane warning, covering areas along Nicaragua’s north central coast and the southern coast of Honduras. San Andres island is also under a hurricane watch.

Winds of 140 to 160 mph are expected at the time of landfall, along with a 12- to 18-foot storm surge, the height that ocean waters could reach above ordinarily dry ground.

Tropical Tidbit

Iota_cover

Iota reaches Category 5 intensity, strikes Nicaragua and Honduras - The Washington Post

<b>Update, 11:10 p.m. Monday</b> — At 10:40 p.m., Hurricane Iota made landfall as a strong Category 4 about 30 miles south of Puerto Cabezas in northeastern Nicaragua packing winds of 155 mph. It crossed the coast just 15 miles south of where Category 4 Hurricane Eta came ashore on Nov. 3. For the latest updates on Iota into Tuesday, see: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hurricane-iota-nicaragua/2020/11/16/07d67732-283b-11eb-92b7-6ef17b3fe3b4_story.html" target=_blank>Category 4 Hurricane Iota slams into Nicaragua</a>

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA — The Nicaraguan coast prepared for Hurricane Iota on Monday as it approached as a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane making landfall Monday night, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Iota is expected to be even more devastating than Hurricane Eta, which ravaged Central America less than two weeks ago. It is the latest Category 5 hurricane to occur in the Atlantic on record. As it moved ashore south of Puerto Cabezas, its winds slackened slightly to 155 mph, making it a Category 4 landfall, though by that point its fiercest winds had already swept inland.

“I’m really sad, to be honest, because it’s not fair that after we experienced one storm, once again another threat arrives for our people,” Presly Coleman Alejandro, an activist with the Youth Indigenous Movement of La Moskitia, said in an interview. “I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve this treatment.”

Alexa Juliana Ard

Iota strengthens to Category 5, heads to Nicaragua

Reuters

Nicaraguan authorities evacuated an estimated 30,000 people during Eta, which made landfall in Puerto Cabezas on the northern Nicaraguan coast Nov. 4. Coleman Alejandro estimates that less than half were able to return to their communities to check on their homes, crops and livestock, much of which was swept away during Eta, before having to prepare for this hurricane.

Hurricane Eta brings disastrous flooding to Central America

The government issued a new hurricane alert to evacuate communities, and many residents are staying in churches, schools and universities to wait out the storm. Coleman Alejandro said that shelters are not well coordinated and lack some basic supplies, such as mattresses and cooking utensils.

Hurricane Iota intensified at an exceptional rate Sunday night into Monday morning.

TOPSHOT-NICARAGUIA-WEATHER-HURRICANE-IOTA

“This is a catastrophic situation unfolding for northeastern Nicaragua with an extreme storm surge of 15-20 ft forecast along with destructive winds and potentially 30 inches of rainfall,” the National Hurricane Center wrote.

Iota is likely to make landfall very near or in the same location as Eta did. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/11/04/hurricane-eta-nicaragua-florida/" target=_blank>Its predecessor moved ashore with 140 mph</a> winds and ravaged the community of Puerto Cabezas in northern Nicaragua. Iota could equal or exceed that force as it makes landfall overnight Monday into Tuesday, with social media footage showing <a href="https://twitter.com/RochexRB27/status/1328399818717356032?s=20" target=_blank>heavy rain and gusty winds</a> moving ashore during the day Monday.

Hurricane warnings are up for the eastern coast of Nicaragua, eastern Honduras and Providencia Island, where Iota’s worst effects are likely.

Iota is the 30th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, marking a record. It’s the first time on record that the Atlantic has had <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/1328215707763412992" target=_blank>two major hurricanes</a> in November. It’s also the 10th named storm of the season to rapidly intensify, a feat that atmospheric scientists link to warmer sea surface temperatures from human-caused climate change.

Overnight explosive strengthening turns Iota into a monster

Weathernerds.org

At 10 p.m., Hurricane Iota was centered about 30 miles south of Puerto Cabezas, and was churning west at 9 mph. The storm had maximum sustained winds, tightly coiled about the center, of 155 mph. The storm’s southern eyewall clipped San Andres island on Monday morning and swept inland across the Nicaraguan mainland beginning around 7:30 p.m.

Tropical storm-force winds had already spread onto land in eastern Nicaragua, including in Puerto Cabezas. The airport in Puerto Cabezas reported sustained winds of 70 mph, with a gust to 103 mph shortly before 10 p.m.

Late afternoon satellite imagery revealed Iota maintaining its fierce buzzsaw-like appearance, a maelstrom of devastating winds and lightning surrounding a razor-sharp eye.

Iota beats Laura, which struck southwest Louisiana in late August, and Eta, which made landfall in Nicaragua 12 days ago, as the strongest hurricane of the 2020 season. Activity this strong so late in the season is virtually unheard of.

Iota became a hurricane at 1 a.m. on Sunday and had lurched to Category 4 strength about 24 hours later. It has been rapidly intensifying nonstop since its early stages as a tropical storm, a<a href="https://twitter.com/splillo/status/1328360256372543491" target=_blank> rate of intensification </a>that would be extreme even during the height of the hurricane season.

A disastrous blow to hard-hit Nicaragua and another inland flood disaster

WeatherBell

Hurricane Iota will make landfall in Central America late Monday, probably just south of Puerto Cabezas, near Laguna de Wounta. That would place Puerto Cabezas, Haulover, and Wawa, about where Eta made landfall two weeks ago, in line for catastrophic winds and storm surge flooding in Iota’s northern eyewall. That’s the most dangerous part of the storm.

The overall environment favors maintenance of Iota’s strength until landfall. The only possible avenue for weakening would be if the system internally experiences an “eyewall replacement cycle,” which would briefly weaken winds by perhaps 15 percent.

The Hurricane Center wrote that “Iota is forecast to continue to be a catastrophic category 5 hurricane when it approaches Central America tonight."

In preparation for the storm’s arrival, residents boarded up the windows of the houses still left standing. Fishermen’s boats were once again brought ashore. The communities affected are mainly Afro Nicaraguan and from the Miskito Indigenous community. Many communities have been without electricity since Hurricane Eta, which tore down wood-paneled homes and toppled palm trees. They are also without clean water after the storm contaminated their water sources.

Aid has been arriving throughout the week, said Coleman Alejandro, but it’s not enough. On Sunday, the Nicaraguan government, with the support of the Nicaraguan Red Cross, sent an aid caravan with food and hygiene kits to communities in the northern Caribbean coast affected by Hurricane Eta, according to a <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.sinapred.gob.ni_index.php_noticias_15-2Dnoticias-2Dslider_197-2Dnueva-2Dcaravana-2Dde-2Dayuda-2Dhumanitaria-2Des-2Denviada-2Dal-2Dcaribe-2Dnorte&d=DwMFaQ&c=RAhzPLrCAq19eJdrcQiUVEwFYoMRqGDAXQ_puw5tYjg&r=R0HH8zMO9oykEznDSF0MYZlQqP_IHoihqibRwcncvkU&m=bxYKrL_QTMjF9ZXl_-gTMfUr_xi-PP2B5BBWG_OPc48&s=jsLnPA-eBYJbZtoHcnh0yVO2Vytavqwulk3qIWX_CWk&e=">statement</a> from the National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention of Disasters (SINAPRED).

“Our colleagues are going to try to arrive as quickly as possible, considering the other event that is approaching us, in order to be there before any circumstance,” SINAPRED Director Guillermo González said.

Honduras Tropical Weather

“The population experiences stress at a time of crisis, especially children, women and elderly people,” he said. In a <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.sinapred.gob.ni_index.php_noticias_15-2Dnoticias-2Dslider_197-2Dnueva-2Dcaravana-2Dde-2Dayuda-2Dhumanitaria-2Des-2Denviada-2Dal-2Dcaribe-2Dnorte&d=DwMFaQ&c=RAhzPLrCAq19eJdrcQiUVEwFYoMRqGDAXQ_puw5tYjg&r=R0HH8zMO9oykEznDSF0MYZlQqP_IHoihqibRwcncvkU&m=bxYKrL_QTMjF9ZXl_-gTMfUr_xi-PP2B5BBWG_OPc48&s=jsLnPA-eBYJbZtoHcnh0yVO2Vytavqwulk3qIWX_CWk&e=">statement</a>, Oscar Gutiérrez, president of the Nicaraguan Red Cross, said that getting clean water was the first priority. The second was psychological and social support for “people and kids who lost everything.”

An estimated <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.sinapred.gob.ni_index.php_noticias_15-2Dnoticias-2Dslider_194-2Dgobierno-2Dinforma-2Dsobre-2Dprogreso-2Dde-2Dfenomeno-2Dmeteorologico-2Diota-2Den-2Del-2Dcaribe-2Dcentral&d=DwMFaQ&c=RAhzPLrCAq19eJdrcQiUVEwFYoMRqGDAXQ_puw5tYjg&r=R0HH8zMO9oykEznDSF0MYZlQqP_IHoihqibRwcncvkU&m=bxYKrL_QTMjF9ZXl_-gTMfUr_xi-PP2B5BBWG_OPc48&s=pAgFPBNZ83Mn-p2muQYAWGtUHboeQ40ZSthbAx5cTO8&e=">80,000 Nicaraguans</a> could be affected by Hurricane Iota, according to the Nicaraguan government.

Across Central America, more than <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sica.int_noticias_sica-2Dcentroamerica-2D3-2Dmillones-2Dde-2Dpersonas-2Dafectadas-2Dpor-2Ddepresion-2Dtropical-2Deta-5F1-5F124797.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=RAhzPLrCAq19eJdrcQiUVEwFYoMRqGDAXQ_puw5tYjg&r=R0HH8zMO9oykEznDSF0MYZlQqP_IHoihqibRwcncvkU&m=bxYKrL_QTMjF9ZXl_-gTMfUr_xi-PP2B5BBWG_OPc48&s=XDygtxYRrEl4nELPHxkqoiQApPNJkAY9Q4902ib1uxk&e=">3 million people</a> were affected by Hurricane Eta, with the most damage occurring in Honduras, where extreme flooding affected more than 2 million people, according to the International Red Cross.

Jason Aldag

Nicki DeMarco

Honduras prepares for powerful, late-season Hurricane Iota

The Washington Post

At least 250 people died across the region after flooding reached to the roofs and landslides buried homes with residents inside. The World Food Program estimates that millions in Central America need food assistance after Hurricane Eta in a region already suffering from the effects of climate change.

“Eta arrived at the worst moment, making life more difficult for millions of people who have been affected for years by erratic climate and recently by the socioeconomic crisis caused by COVID-19,” Miguel Barreto, World Food Program regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__es.wfp.org_noticias_el-2Dhuracan-2Deta-2Ddeja-2Dmillones-2Dde-2Dpersonas-2Den-2Dcentroamerica-2Dnecesitadas-2Dde-2Dasistencia&d=DwMFaQ&c=RAhzPLrCAq19eJdrcQiUVEwFYoMRqGDAXQ_puw5tYjg&r=R0HH8zMO9oykEznDSF0MYZlQqP_IHoihqibRwcncvkU&m=bxYKrL_QTMjF9ZXl_-gTMfUr_xi-PP2B5BBWG_OPc48&s=9muA0DXW5x3zWJO9cb_k0Ji5tnCflJPafKzVo7NMP9E&e=">statement</a> Nov. 13. “It also worries us that rain and flooding could destroy the next harvest, which subsistence farmers depend on.”

Iota is the strongest hurricane ever observed this late in the season and ranks as the second-strongest November storm on record. Iota’s peak winds leaped 40 mph in six hours Sunday night, quadrupling the criteria for hurricane rapid intensification, which is a 35 mph increase in 24 hours.

Hurricane Laura’s rapid intensification is a sign of a warming climate, scientists say

Its sudden strengthening was also reflected by a sudden drop in pressure, toppling 61 millibars in 24 hours, the <a href="https://twitter.com/splillo/status/1328330065084440577">fourth-fastest decline on record</a>, trailing only hurricanes Gilbert (1988), Rita (2005) and Wilma (2005).

This kind of rapid intensification is becoming more likely because of warming ocean waters. The water temperatures east of Nicaragua, where Iota has explosively strengthened, have <a href="https://twitter.com/catinsight/status/1328331403180838918">warmed markedly</a> in recent decades during November and December.

Iota’s intensity and rapid strengthening have helped make the 2020 season even more exceptional, compared with past seasons:

2020 is the first Atlantic season <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/1328215707763412992">featuring two major (Category 3 or higher) hurricanes</a> on record during November, following Eta earlier this month.

Iota is the sixth major hurricane of the 2020 season, <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/1328215211958886402">tying six other seasons</a> for the second most in a year.

The latter half of the hurricane season has been particularly remarkable, as <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/1328311868713095174">four of the past six named storms</a> to form, all named after a Greek letter, have become major hurricanes. Storms named using the Greek alphabet <a href="https://twitter.com/philklotzbach/status/1328007252884680704">have produced the equivalent energy</a> of an average entire hurricane season.

This year marks the fifth straight with a Category 5 storm forming in the tropical Atlantic, the longest stretch on record. Iota is the seventh Category 5 storm during that span.

<i>Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow reported from Washington. Andrew Freedman contributed to this report.</i>

Matthew Cappucci is a meteorologist for Capital Weather Gang. He earned a B.A. in atmospheric sciences from Harvard University in 2019, and has contributed to The Washington Post since he was 18. He is an avid storm chaser and adventurer, and covers all types of weather, climate science, and astronomy.

Matthew Cappucci

Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association.

Anna-Cat Brigida

El Salvador is now the world’s largest bitcoin experiment. Salvadorans say they want no part in it.

Hurricane Iota explosively intensifies to Category 5 as it bears down on Nicaragua

Hurricane Eta makes landfall in Nicaragua as a fierce Category 4 storm; flood disaster looms

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