I worked in a few Central American countries over the years, mainly the most violent and impoverished ones, where life really is pretty miserable for most people. When I was new I remember a few expats opining that Mesoamerican society works best as a military dictatorship. Basically a strong chief or king who rules with an iron fist and keeps order, dealing out harsh punishments when necessary with little judicial process. Essentially what Bukele is doing now and what the Hondurans and Guatemalans I've talked to would also like to see in their countries. They absolutely hate gangster scum of the type that Bukele is locking up and have no patience for talk of their "human rights" and such.Yeah, I think largely the new world Spanish and mestizo order didn't do this like the Europeans did over generations. That will persist to a worse degree given the race differences, especially if you have periods of population boom.
As one expat I talked to when I was new in Central America philosophized "free and fair democratic elections ruined this place." I wasn't very "red pilled" at the time so this seemed pretty shocking and "racist" but over a decade later, it makes sense to me now. Assuming that Honduras and El Salvador should ape US or UK representative democracy makes about as much sense as assuming that Anglo-Saxon countries should model their system after the Chinese Communist Party.