Bukele Warns ‘Boomer’ U.S. Senators Not to Meddle in El Salvador

Matthew Bristow, Bloomberg News

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, speaks during a press conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. The shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived from India as El Salvador reports over 58,023 infections and 1,758 deaths. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele blasted a group of U.S. Senators who requested an investigation into risks from his nation’s adoption of Bitcoin, telling them they should stop meddling in his country.

“OK boomers… You have 0 jurisdiction on a sovereign and independent nation,” Bukele said in a post on Twitter, referring to the senators. “We are not your colony, your back yard or your front yard. Stay out of our internal affairs.”

Bukele’s comments came after Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat, and Republican Senator Jim Risch introduced legislation to require a State Department report on El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender and a plan to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system.

“This new policy has the potential to weaken U.S. sanctions policy, empowering malign actors like China and organized criminal organizations,” Risch said in a statement Wednesday.

Bukele’s government last year made Bitcoin legal tender alongside the dollar, and also announced the purchase of more than 1,000 Bitcoins with public funds, subjecting the country to the cryptocurrency’s extreme volatility. The International Monetary Fund and ratings agencies expressed concern over the policy.

Read More: IMF Board Urges El Salvador to Ditch Bitcoin as Legal Tender