MIAMI (AP) – The Biden government last week rejected a meeting request with the president of El Salvador on an unannounced trip to Washington, as three people with knowledge of the ruling said Monday that the Central American leader criticize the leader.
The trip by Nayib Bukele, who has not been reported before, came after a senior White House official warned in an interview with a Salvadoran news agency that Bukele was very critical of the government in Biden ‘differences’ with him would have.
Bukele was quick to accept former President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policy restricting asylum requests, which gave him much American support for his tough government style in El Salvador, where he is popular. But like other world leaders befriended by Trump, he faces an uphill climb that turns to the Biden administration, which wants to undo the policy and signal that its relationship with El Salvador is currently being reviewed.
The president’s surprise trip amid a pandemic posed a dilemma for US policymakers. They have been given little prior notice and mostly avoid personal meetings due to the coronavirus and because many senior positions remain vacant, say the three people, all in Washington and insist on speaking anonymously in exchange for discussing internal decisions. .
Biden officials wanted to reject Bukele’s request that Bukele did not try to present any assembly as proof of support before the elections later this month, where the government wants to expand its power base. However, they made an exception for Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno, who met with senior Biden officials in Washington 11 days before the Andean presidential election 11 days ago.
Bukele maintains that the trip is private and that he is not requesting a meeting with Biden officials.
What “president in the world is going on a trip with his wife and baby daughter to sit in Washington and ask for random meetings to be held immediately? It does not even make sense, “he said in a text message.
The three people did not say how the request for a meeting was made. But they said the decision not to meet with Bukele was deliberate.
While the Biden government hopes to eventually involve Bukele in its $ 4 billion plan to attack the root causes of migration from Central America, there are serious concerns about its respect for the rule of law and democracy, the people said. added.
“Clearly, circumstances have changed for Bukele,” said José Miguel Vivanco, the US director of Human Rights Watch in Washington. “His popularity in El Salvador does not detract from the legal investigation in Washington into his report on human rights and respect for the rule of law.”
According to the Western Hemisphere Division of the State Department, Biden’s government is valuable for what he considers to be a strong relationship between El Salvador and the United States, and will work closely with its partners to address challenges in the region. A spokesman declined to comment further.
During the visit to Washington, Bukele did meet with Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, said Secretary of State Alexandra Hill, who did not accompany the president on the trip.
The OAS, which announced last year that it would send an observer mission to El Salvador for the February 28 congressional election, did not respond to a request for comment or make any statement about the visit. Almagro is known for regularly tweeting about his meetings with dignitaries and on the same day he met Bukele, he promoted his participation in a Zoom call with diplomats from Colombia.
Bukele took office in 2019 as an independent pledge to save El Salvador of the deep divisions left by uncontrolled gang violence and systemic corruption in both right – wing and left – wing governments, which followed the end of a bloody civil war in 1992.
According to polls, an overwhelming majority of Salvadorans approve of his harsh approach, acknowledging that he has reduced the high levels of violence, and his allies are expected to win a majority in the congressional vote this month.
But increasingly, Democrats, but also some Republicans, have criticized Bukele for strong arm tactics such as sending troops to Congress last year to pressure lawmakers to vote on funding for the fight against gangs.
Over the weekend, two House Democrats, Representative Norma Torres and Representative Albio Sires, chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Latin America, sent a letter to Bukele urging him to “not divide interests” of political gain. “
The letter was cited by the deaths of two individuals who returned on January 31 from a protest by Bukele’s opponents of the left-wing FMLN party. Police have arrested two FMLN members and a bodyguard working as suspects at the Ministry of Health.
Both Bukele and his opponents seized on the confusing incident, which is being investigated, to accuse each other of inciting political violence.
“It looks like the dying parties have put their final plan into practice,” Bukele wrote in the immediate aftermath of the killings, opposing criticism on social media of opponents that his rhetoric was to blame for the deaths. “They are so desperate not to lose their privileges and corruption.”
Biden’s government last week terminated Trump’s bilateral agreements with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala demanding that people seeking asylum on the US-Mexico border should rather go to one of the Central American countries and follow their demands there.
Legislation passed last year and backed by Democrats, restricts US foreign aid to El Salvador to finance the purchase of U.S. military equipment. The Department of State is also required to compile a public list of corrupt individuals in Central America subject to sanctions within six months, which may include some of the most powerful politicians in the region.
Juan González, the senior director of the National Security Council’s Western Hemisphere, said last month that Biden’s government would have a “difference” with El Salvador’s president and that any leader who did not want to tackle corruption as a American ally will be considered.
González’s comment added weight because it was the first time the head of White House policy toward Latin America and because it was made in an interview with El Faro, a regular target of Bukele.
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Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman