Nayib Bukele sworn in as president of El Salvador

San Jose: Businessman Nayib Bukele took office as president of El Salvador, tasked with turning around grinding poverty and rampant gang violence that continue to plague the country.

Bukele was sworn in by the speaker of the National Assembly in a square in downtown San Salvador, as a large, boisterous crowd applauded and shouted “We did it!”

The telegenic Bukele, 37, was elected in February to succeed Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a leftist former guerrilla who maintained close relations with his Nicaraguan and Venezuelan counterparts.

Bukele has said he will seek closer ties with the US, home to 2.5 million Salvadorans.

With only 6.6 million people living in the small Central American country, its fortunes are closely linked to the United States which nearly a third of its citizens call home.

“I will be the president of all Salvadorans,” Bukele pledged.

“Our country is like a sick child, we all have to take care of it.”

US President Donald Trump, who has railed against the waves of migrants flooding into his country from El Salvador as well as Honduras and Guatemala, wished Bukele well on Twitter.

“Congratulations President Bukele on your inauguration! The United States stands ready to work with @NayibBukele to advance prosperity in El Salvador and the hemisphere,” Trump said.

Official estimates indicate an average of 200 Salvadorans leave the country per day to enter the US without documents.

Some analysts have called Bukele a millennial president due to his effective use of social media and casual appearance, ditching a tie and wearing his hair in a ponytail.

Born in San Salvador in 1981, the politician has Palestinian roots and is the son of a Muslim imam and a Christian woman.