In the last three years, the average price per square meter in one of El Salvador’s most famous beaches was $80.61 USD, more than doubling from $34.33 before 2020. El Faro reviewed a sample of 50 sales and purchases between 2015 and 2024. Five bitcoiners and one company have bought 992,000 square meters in El Zonte for a total of $3.7 million. In luxury projects for sale now, the average price per square meter amounts to more than $1,000. The revaluation occurs after years of a government strategy to turn El Zonte into Bitcoin Beach, an area of boutique hotels and apartment towers, within reach of foreigners and the wealthiest Salvadorans.

In December, two-thirds of Congress approved an anti-monopoly law proposed by legislators aligned with President Bernardo Arévalo, marking a significant improvement of their negotiating power in the legislature while sparking debate over whether the new rules will in fact curb market concentration — or create insider loopholes.

The Christmas Village is the stage of the officially approved narrative about El Salvador: a happy place, full of decorative lights and prosperity. But unwelcome are those who have lived and worked in the Historic Center for decades.

An Argentinian judge issues an arrest warrant for Daniel Ortega for 2018 crimes, the Guatemalan Congress approves an anti-monopoly law with ambiguous implications for big business, and the Inter-American Court finds the Salvadoran state responsible in the watershed Beatriz abortion case.

At the start of his second term in June, Nayib Bukele made history in El Salvador by violating the Constitution that he swore to defend. Journalistic investigations this year revealed that he has concentrated power in lockstep with his family’s accumulation of wealth. The year ended with favorable news for Bukele’s project and those of other authoritarians in the region: Donald Trump will return to power in January 2025.