Feb 04 Rubio says El Salvador offers to accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including violent American criminals By Matthew Lee, Associated Press Secretary of State Marco Rubio says “there are obviously legalities involved” in Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals. Continue reading
Feb 13 Watch 9:36 Thousands of innocent people jailed in El Salvador’s gang crackdown By Amna Nawaz, Teresa Cebrián Aranda, Julia Galiano-Rios El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was re-elected for a second term in a landslide win. Bukele has overseen a vast and brutal crackdown on gangs, transforming the nation from one of the deadliest to one of the safest in Latin… Continue watching
Feb 05 El Salvador’s Bukele appears to win reelection, but vote count issues delay results By Megan Janetsky, Marcos Aleman, Associated Press A jubilant Bukele declared a historic margin of victory even before electoral authorities released the first preliminary figures. Continue reading
Feb 04 Watch 3:21 News Wrap: U.S. vows ‘sustained’ military response to Iran-backed attacks In our news wrap Sunday, U.S. officials say they are not done yet with their military response in the Middle East, another atmospheric river threatens California with flooding and mudslides, Moscow-appointed officials say Ukrainian shelling killed at least 28 people… Continue watching
Feb 04 El Salvador votes in elections with self-described ‘world’s coolest dictator’ likely to win By Megan Janetsky, Marcos Aleman, Associated Press Salvadorans are voting Sunday in presidential and legislative elections that experts say are largely about the tradeoff between security and democracy. With soaring approval ratings and virtually no competition, Nayib Bukele is almost certainly headed for a second term as president. Continue reading
Feb 02 Watch 9:15 El Salvador’s vice president discusses controversial crackdown on gangs, upcoming election By Amna Nawaz, Teresa Cebrián Aranda El Salvador is holding its election and all eyes are on incumbent President Nayib Bukele. He came to power in 2019 and has overseen a brutal crackdown on gangs that terrorized the nation for decades. His popularity has soared, but… Continue watching
Jan 28 IMF urges El Salvador to scale back its push for Bitcoin as legal tender By Claudia Torrens, Associated Press The International Monetary Fund says that El Salvador should dissolve the $150 million trust fund it created when it made the cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender and return any of those unused funds to its treasury. Continue reading
Sep 15 Thousands protest against Bukele government in El Salvador By Marcos Aleman, Associated Press The demonstration Wednesday centered on fears Bukele may try for re-election in 2024. Protests also voiced concern about the president's concentration of power and the controversial decision to make the cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender. Continue reading
Apr 28 El Salvador leader fights crime and virus, drawing criticism By Marcos Aleman, Christopher Sherman, Associated Press As his first year in power comes to a close, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is fighting both the coronavirus and the country's powerful street gangs with tactics that some say are putting the young democracy at risk. Continue reading
Feb 04 Nayib Bukele wins El Salvador presidency vowing to end corruption By Marcos Aleman, Associated Press A youthful former mayor of the capital easily won El Salvador's presidency, getting more votes than his three rivals combined to usher out the two parties that dominated politics for a quarter century in the crime-plagued Central America nation. Continue reading