El Salvador Perspectives

Nayib Bukele spent the second half of September on foreign travel.  He sought to portray himself as having something important to say to the rest of world.      For Bukele, these travels were all about showing to the Salvadoran public that he is a leader of world stature. Three different national broadcasts in El Salvador highlighted the travels of the president. There he was meeting with the world's richest man, speaking at the UN General Assembly and lecturing the wealthy countries of the world, and being given all the honors of a state visit in Argentina with fellow populist leader Javier Milei. Were there any tangible benefits to El Salvador out of this trip? No, not really. But for the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator" and "philosopher king" it was a chance to further enhance his image to his adoring public in El Salvador, around Latin America, and in the circles of Bitcoin true-believers. Bukele started his travels with a meeting with billi...

A collection of current stories from El Salvador: Attorney General accuses Norman Quijano of fraud and seeks to strip him of legislative immunity .  El Salvador's attorney general Monday accused the ARENA party leader and former presidential candidate Norman Quijano of election fraud and making deals with criminal gangs in connection with 2014 presidential election.  Quijano is currently a deputy in the Legislative Assembly after most recently serving as the president of that body.   More on this in a future post. Prison system head must disclose who funded his trips to Mexico .   The governmental Institute for Access to Public Information has ordered the office of the prison system to disclose who paid for trips, including private jet trips, for prisons chief Osiris Luna Meza.  The case is seen as an indicator of the new government's lack of commitment to transparency.  Investigative journalists at RevistaFactum also reported that Luna...

Nayib Bukele traveled to Asia in the past week for state visits to Japan and China .  Under the FMLN, El Salvador dumped diplomatic relations with Taiwan  in 2018 and established them with mainland China.  Bukele said he'd review diplomatic ties when he became president, and on April 1, blasted China for extending an invitation to outgoing officials of the FMLN to visit Beijing. The visit to China would seem to go outside of Bukele's typical path of hewing to the desires of the US.   The US strongly criticized El Salvador when it broke off relations with Taiwan last year.   But Bukele is looking for investment partners wherever he can find them, and China remains interested in Central America.   In China, leaders of the countries announced that China will participate in infrastructure developments including a stadium and water treatment plant.    It is not clear if this is the same or different money from the $150 million Chi...

El Salvador's FMLN has always been a full fledged member of Latin America's socialist political movements.   Even if it has accomplished none of the goals of that movement in 10 years in power, the FMLN has always seen itself aligned with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia in the "Bolivarian Revolution." Two of those countries are now roundly condemned by the world community as pariah states for their abuse of human rights and maintenance of leaders in power by force and without legitimacy. The reports of Human Rights Watch on  Nicaragua and Venezuela detail some of the reasons why. Yet the FMLN has doubled down on its support of Venezuela, with the party and president Sanchez Ceren announcing their total support for the government of Nicolas Maduro. The FMLN also has kept its backing for Ortega in Nicaragua, despite his bloody crackdown on dissent there.  However, Hugo Martinez, the party's candidate for president, did attempt to distance himself ...

Salvadoran president Salvador Sanchez Ceren recently returned from a trip to China.   The trip was his first since El Salvador broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized the People's Republic of China.   According to  Reuters , Sanchez Ceren returned to El Salvador bearing gifts : China will give El Salvador $150 million to spur development of social and technological projects, the Salvadoran president said on Wednesday , the latest sign of deepening ties between the countries that has alarmed the United States.... “This historic meeting between the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of El Salvador has produced excellent results,” Ceren said. “This confirms that the establishment of diplomatic relations with China is my government’s most important decision in foreign policy.” Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the two countries had agreed to a series of cooperation projects, incl...

The government of El Salvador made a surprise announcement yesterday that it was establishing diplomatic relations with the Peoples Republic of China and severing its ties with Taiwan.  From Reuters : El Salvador’s president, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, announced in a nationally televised speech that his government had broken off diplomatic relations with Taiwan and instead established ties with China.  Sanchez Ceren said the central American country, which built ties with the Republic of China government in 1933, would see “great benefits” and “extraordinary opportunities” in the new relationship with Beijing....  Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters earlier that Taipei was not willing to engage in “money competition” with its giant neighbor.  He said El Salvador had been continuously asking for “massive funding support” since last year for a port development, but Taiwan was unable to assist with the “unsuitable project” after assessment. There wa...

Recently the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Jean Manes, created headlines when she asserted that China could be seeking to establish a military presence in El Salvador.   As reported in a Mint Press News story titled  US Accuses China of Seeking to Build a “Military Base” in El Salvador Commercial Port : Earlier this month, Manes alleged that China’s investments and business ties in the Caribbean and Central America, which remain modest, had become a concern for the U.S. Department of State owing to the potential that they could mask a creeping “militarization of the region.”  Manes said:  They [the Chinese] are trying to find weak spots in the region, where they can make these kinds of arrangements … we are concerned that it is not only investment in a port, but then they want to do something with their military and they want to expand Chinese influence in the region. It is a strategic matter and we all need to keep our eyes open to what is happening.” A...

The left wing FMLN government of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén sent its congratulations to president Nicolas Maduro for his reelection Sunday in elections seen by most of the world community as a sham.  A statement from the Salvadoran president's office called the elections in Venezuela a fundamental step in the advance of democracy in the South American nation. In doing so, El Salvador stood apart from most of its Latin American neighbors.   From al Jazeera : Condemning Maduro's re-election, the Lima Group (a group of 14 Latin American countries) plus Canada said the members' diplomats in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, would return to their respective countries for consultations.   Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) did not acknowledge the results and in a video posted on his Twitter account, he said: "Yesterday was an infamous day for the democracy of the Americas ... we do not recognise him as the legit...