In April 2020, Fabio Castillo, a former secretary of the
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), stated that Bukele had "an incredible influence over the affairs of the state that [he] should not have" (""). In 2019, before Nayib assumed office as
president of El Salvador, Bukele conducted 270 interviews for government positions regarding the economy and sent a list of candidates to Nayib for consideration. In 2020, Bukele was named by Nayib as the president of a committee tasked with managing US$2 billion of emergency
COVID-19 relief funds. In May and June 2021, Bukele and his twin brother Yusef met with foreign investors to discuss the possibility of introducing digital currency or cryptocurrency in El Salvador. Shortly afterwards, on 9 June 2021, the
Legislative Assembly voted to pass
a bill to make
bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador. == Personal life ==