President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador entered his own Parliament today, escorted by a group of military personnel in a show of force. After having seated himself in the chair of the country’s parliamentary president, Mario Ponce, he demanded that his proposed pro-military funding plan be passed, giving lawmakers one week to make a decision. 

President Bukele’s plan would be the arrangement of a 109 million-dollar loan that would allocate its sums towards new police and military equipment, which Bukele says he will use to help suppress the nation’s rampant crime. Although, as of recent, Bukele’s plans to fight crime have been largely successful (the murder rate has since plummeted from 9.2 murders per day to 3.8), his use of military intimidation to promote his plans have sparked a debate over its constitutionality as well as condemnation from the UN.