El Salvador-Of Faustian Bargains

 

Of Faustian Bargains

EL SALVADOR

El Salvadoran officials secretly negotiated a truce with leaders of the country’s powerful street gangs for their political support, according to the US Treasury, an accusation that risks escalating already tense relations between the two nations, the Associated Press reported.

The recent allegations suggest that officials in President Nayib Bukele’s government offered financial benefits and privileges to imprisoned leaders of MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs in 2020 including prostitutes and cellphones “to ensure that incidents of gang violence and the number of confirmed homicides remained low.”

The two officials who conducted the negotiations were Osiris Luna Meza, chief of the Salvadoran Penal System and vice minister of justice and public security, and Carlos Amilcar Marroquin Chica, chairman of the Social Fabric Reconstruction Unit. The US Treasury initiated sanctions against both.

Bukele, in response, took to social media to deny the accusations and questioned the evidence behind the allegations.

The recent announcement comes more than a year after the local news site El Faro reported that Bukele’s government negotiated with gang leaders. Then, lawmakers from his party removed former Attorney General Raul Melara after the latter said he would investigate the El Faro report.

The new accusations come as Bukele faces criticism over his administration’s authoritarian style.

His party secured a majority of seats in the country’s congress following legislative elections earlier this year. In May, the new congress removed Melara and the justices of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court, a move that raised concerns in Washington over the direction of the country.

Those lawmakers are now pushing for a “foreign agents” law that many fear will be used to restrict the work of independent journalists and civil society organizations, according to Human Rights Watch.