The President of El Salvador, Nayib B Watch, rejected the massive demonstration on Sunday against his government, by ensuring that it was financed by “millions of dollars” from the United States for promote “communist movements”. Through his social networks, Bukele referred to the protest day in which war veterans, judges, unions, human rights defenders and political parties demonstrated in rejection of the government’s economic policies, the alleged acts corruption and the lack of independence of the three powers.
Chief of staff under the magnifying glass
In a new episode of the distancing from the US government, Bukele argued that Sunday’s march generated “someone else’s embarrassment” and accused the administration of Democrat Joe Biden of being behind the protests. “American taxpayers should know that their government is using their money to finance communist movements against a democratically elected government and with a 90 percent approval rating in El Salvador. The people of El Salvador will not return to that terrible past, “said the president.
To back up his remarks, Bukele shared images from the march that showed United States flags alongside people supposedly related to the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The Salvadoran Vice President, Félix Ulloa, replied to Bukele’s statements by saying that “More precisely, the so-called communists are actually mercenaries and corrupt opportunists”, according to the local newspaper The world.
The messages of the Salvadoran president further strained the relationship with the United States, a traditional ally of El Salvador and the main destination of its migrants, whose remittances feed the coffers of the Central American country. Days ago Bukele’s chief of staff, Carolina Recinos, was accused by the United States of having directed “a multi-million dollar corruption scheme in multiple ministries”. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury withdrew the visa and announced blockades of Recinos’ properties and interests.
The U.S. Treasury claimed this week that the Bukele government secretly negotiated a truce with the leaders of the country’s powerful gangs. and announced sanctions for different officials, among which is Recinos. Washington alleges that the Bukele government purchased the support of criminal gangs for financial gain for their jailed leaders, including prostitutes and cell phones. The indictment points directly to one of Bukele’s most touted successes during his tenure: a drop in the murder rate.
Bukele, who emphatically denied the accusations, wondered on his Twitter account: “Cell phones and prostitutes in prisons? Money to gangs? When did that happen? They didn’t even check the date? How can they put such a lie? Obvious without anyone questioning them? There are videos, yes, but of their friends doing that. Not us. They don’t even hide anymore. “
Fourth march against Bukele
Thousands of Salvadorans they demonstrated on Sunday in against from the “dictatorial actions” of President Bukele, the violations of human rights and the Constitution, and the implementation of policies that “do not benefit the people.” The new march brought together unions, feminist groups, human rights defenders, war veterans, deputies and members of opposition political parties in the streets of San Salvador, the country’s capital.
It was the fourth march against Bukele, in a run that began on September 7. On that occasion hundreds of Salvadorans demonstrated against the implementation of the “bitcoin law”, which enables bitcoin-del-mundo “> the use of cryptocurrency as a payment method alongside the dollar.
This time the protesters also demanded that the Supreme Court justices and the attorney general, who were displaced on May 1, be reinstated. They also asked that the reforms to the Constitution promoted by the government not be approved, not endorsed presidential re-election and the reforms that make it easier for the Supreme Court to transfer or dismiss judges or magistrates be repealed.
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