Latin America's political arena has intensified with fallout from the pandemic, war in Ukraine, spiraling inflation plus fears of global recession.
Those hardships have all hit voters' wallets in one of the world's most unequal regions, driving deeper political wedges ahead of key elections and in some countries threatening democracy itself.
In long-dysfunctional Peru, leftist President Pedro Castillo, who took office just over a year ago, is battling a corruption probe amid plummeting approval ratings.
read moreYet Bukele remains very popular, with an approval rating of 85% according to an August CID Gallup poll.
"El Salvador is a dictatorship, a populist, beloved dictatorship, but it's a dictatorship," said Guatemalan-American novelist Francisco Goldman.