The Biden administration imposed sanctions on two Salvadoran officials for allegedly offering privileges to gangs in exchange for a reduction in homicides and political support.
last month after accusing President Nayib Bukele’s government of using state-financed media to attack the United States. Chargé d’affaires Jean Manes had also decried a “decline in democracy” in the Central American country.on two Salvadoran officials for their roles in the alleged gang negotiations: Osiris Luna Meza, the vice minister of justice and director of the prison system, and Carlos Amilcar Marroquín, head of a major social welfare agency.
last year that detailed talks beginning in 2019 aimed at getting the gangs to agree to a reduction in homicides. Bukele developed a friendly relationship with President Donald Trump by agreeing to take in asylum seekers turned back from the U.S. border. But ties have cooled considerably under President Biden.U.S. officials fear Bukele is becoming steadily more authoritarian. Elected in 2019, Bukele has defied rulings from the Supreme Court and purged older judges, replacing them with magistrates seen as his allies.