Bukele is not an exception. He's not replacing a functioning democracy. As you describe, the old system had no true separation of power - criminals had already

Bukele is not an exception. He's not replacing a functioning democracy. As you describe, the old system had no true separation of power - criminals had already captured it and made it dysfunctional. As everything in live, just because it says X on the label doesn't mean it has X in it. Same with democracy. To have a functioning democracy, you not only need to have separation of power, you also always have to make sure it is maintained, and a society has to constantly re-educate itself on why that is so important. When we take things for granted, they are up for grabs from people who just want power.