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🇵🇦 From his refuge in the Nicaraguan Embassy, convicted launderer and ex-president Ricardo Martinelli is pulling the strings of the Sunday election in Panama. His party candidate leads the polls despite popular frustration with corruption and social decay.
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#efLATEST
| In a new investigation, El Faro reveals that the Bukele administration has been negotiating with MS-13 for a year to reduce homicides and gain electoral support. Read in Spanish here:
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#Breaking
: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has just announced he will seek re-election in 2024, a move explicitly prohibited by the Salvadoran constitution.
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#Breaking
: A protected witness claims that the president of
#Guatemala
negotiated in 2019 a bribe to his electoral campaign worth $2.6 million from a network of construction firms.
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582
Tonight
@_elfaro_
's
@jlsanz
and
@JLobo2011
will hold a
#TwitterSpace
with exiled prosecutor
@JSandoval1982
about the evidence that the president of
#Guatemala
negotiated construction bribes for his 2019 campaign.
Read more:
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On the 200th anniversary of Central American independence from Spain, demonstrators have gathered in San Salvador in the largest anti-government protests since President Bukele took office in June of 2019. 📸
@chelefaro
, Cuscatlán Park.
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NEW: A criminal investigation in
#ElSalvador
found that the Bukele administration moved to cover up evidence of the government's covert negotiations with MS-13 and Barrio 18.
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"On this front, on every front, we must respond." U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly's illegal removal and replacement of five magistrates from the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber and the Attorney General this weekend in
#ElSalvador
.
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EXCLUSIVE: Audios of top Bukele administration official reveal that the record spike in homicides in March was the result of the collapse of negotiations between MS-13 and the government of
#ElSalvador
.
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"We're not against Kamala Harris's diplomatic visit, but rather her interference and blackmail in return for aid," said Society In Action, a group of 20 which calls itself "the real civil society," in a protest with the Veterans' Association outside the Air Force of
#Guatemala
.
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🚨EXCLUSIVE: The Bukele administration was willing to pay over one million dollars to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel and to the Salvadoran 18th Street Sureños gang if they helped re-capture MS-13 leader “Crook” before the 2024 elections.
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🇬🇹The Biden administration has banned from U.S. territory the prosecutor and judge who attempted to interfere in Guatemala’s run-off election and who incarcerated journalist José Rubén Zamora.
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#efBREAKING
| This afternoon, during a campaign event for Rogelio Canales, FMLN candidate for mayor of San Salvador, an unknown assailant stepped out of a car and opened fire onto a party truckbed. Two people have died and at least two more have been hospitalized.
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Breaking: The girlfriend of a senior MS-13 leader left a trail of online evidence of his illegal escape from prison last year aided by a top Salvadoran government official, despite 40 more years in prison and a U.S. extradition request. He's now in Mexico.
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#BREAKING
: Today 15 members of El Faro sued Israel-based spyware firm NSO Group in US federal court for the illegal deployment of Pegasus software to infiltrate, surveil, and steal information from their phones in El Salvador.
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#NEW
: A protected witness claims that the president of
#Guatemala
negotiated a bribe to his 2019 electoral campaign worth $2.6 million from a network of construction firms, in return for favoritism in infrastructure contracts.
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“We're against their (the Biden administration's) agenda of imposing the LGBTQ, pro-abortion ideology. In Guatemala we're pro-life," one member of the group told
@_elfaro_
's photojournalist
@victorpena84
.
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The U.S.
@StateDept
has named senior officials from the Bukele admin, the prior FMLN admin, and the Nuevas Ideas-aligned party GANA, as “credibly alleged to have committed or facilitated corruption or narcotics trafficking,” per declassified documents reviewed by
@_elfaro_
.
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#efEditorial
| El Salvador no longer enjoys the right to legitimate defense and public officials’ will is placed above the law. That is why we now announce that El Faro has just moved its administrative operations out of the country. 🧵
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#ElSalvador
|
#Breaking
: On day 1 of the new Legislative Assembly, controlled by Bukele's party, Nuevas Ideas, began the process of dismissing the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. Experts warn of a possible technical coup d'etat.
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#efINEQUALITY
| "El Salvador is facing the biggest challenge since its civil war," writes economist and former VP candidate
@carmenaidalazo
, in reference to the health, economic & institutional crisis that have bludgeoned the country's most vulnerable. 👇
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NEW: A criminal investigation in
#ElSalvador
found that an official in President Bukele’s cabinet embezzled $1.6 million worth of food from a government program meant to feed Salvadorans during the pandemic.
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The Giammattei administration is locked in a diplomatic skirmish with Colombia over the news that former CICIG commissioner Iván Velásquez, now Petro’s minister of defense, will be criminally investigated.
#efNewsletter
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🚨NEW:
#ElSalvador
Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado previously worked for two and a half years as defense attorney for one of the main collaborators of the Mara Salvatrucha-13, hotel operator Jorge Manuel Vega Knight.
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#ElSalvador
| At 3:40 a.m., the Legislative Assembly decreed 30-day martial law with 67 of 84 votes.
President Bukele called for the measure last night after the country registered at least 76 homicides from Friday-Saturday, the highest spike in 20 years.
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Days after the passage of a law in
#ElSalvador
to criminalize media using gang sources, officials and even the president are smearing and threatening journalists with criminal investigations.
#efNewsletter
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"The president's threats are a grave affront to our republican system, the independence of branches of government, and to societal peace. The alarm bells of anyone defending democracy in El Salvador should be ringing."
Op-Ed just went live from
@_ElFaro_
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US prosecutors file motion in New York district court claiming Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took bribes from drug traffickers and used the Army to protect a cocaine lab and secure drug shipments.
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NEW: In October 2020, El Salvador obtained three spyware tools from an intermediary firm of an Israeli ex-special operations official close to President Bukele. The first registered deployment of Pegasus in the country occurred four months prior.
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#Unforgivable
,
@_elfaro_
's short film which qualified to compete for an
#Oscars2021
nomination, did not get the nod. We will take this moment, though, to celebrate the Oscar nomination of
#LaLlorona
,
@JayroBustamante
's feature film from Guatemala! 🎉
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#ElSalvador
's Bureau of Prisons removed evidence from its facilities showing that the Bukele administration negotiated with all three of the country's gangs for a reduction in homicides.
@_elfaro_
gained access to the
#OperationCathedral
case file:
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#ElSalvador
| “The U.S. Government condemns the ruling issued by the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber on September 3rd,” said interim
@USAmbSV
Jean Manes tonight, in reference to the court’s decision to permit president Bukele’s reelection in 2024.
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NEW: El Salvador seems to have destroyed the territorial reach and centralized leadership of the notorious MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. El Faro verified their withdrawal from communities across the country and with a veteran leader of one of the groups.
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#Breaking
:
#ElSalvador
’s Constitutional Court, illegally taken over by a legislative coup in May, rules to permit the unconstitutional reelection of President Nayib Bukele in 2024.
“Link to the resolution (in Spanish)”
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#ALERT
: Guatemalan authorities have arrested and raided the home of
@el_Periodico
director
@ChepeZamora
and the independent newspaper's offices, accusing him of money laundering, blackmail, and influence trafficking, per FECI chief Rafael Curruchiche.
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Johns Hopkins economist
@steve_hanke
on
#ElSalvador
's new
#BitcoinLaw
, taking effect this September: "You’d have to be insane to introduce a vehicle of corruption, bitcoin, into an environment that’s already corrupt."
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#efOPINION
| "We cannot expect USAID to save us from these economic perils," says
@salviprinz
, of
#ElSalvador
's pivot to
#Bitcoin
. "Especially when they're in large part responsible for our lack of self-determination to begin with."
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#ElSalvador
|
@_elfaro_
had access to recordings of the Bukele admin negotiations with MS-13. In them, the director of
@TejidoSocialSv
,
@Sliptone
admits that he got “Crook,” a gang leader referred to as “El Viejo,” out of jail and into Guatemala.
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#Breaking
in
#Guatemala
: President Giammattei has sworn in current Attorney General Consuelo Porras to her second term through 2026, despite serious accusations of obstruction of justice that led to aggressive sanctions from
@StateDept
and suspension of cooperation with
@USAID
.
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#Breaking
: The iPhones of 22 members of
@_elfaro_
were bugged using Pegasus spyware since 2020, according to an expert analysis by
@citizenlab
and
@accessnow
.
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#ElFaroElections
| Of the 84 candidates running for the Legislative Assembly w/ Bukele's party, Nuevas Ideas: 61 are men; 27 have held positions with the Bukele admin; 10 migrated from other parties; and 8 may be in dubious legal standing.
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Thousands of protestors rang in the 200th anniversary of Central American Independence in the streets of San Salvador yesterday, in the largest anti-government demonstrations since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019.
#efPhoto
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A judge in El Salvador has officially requested information from the US gov, including the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Department.
US law requires them to comply.
Here's a first article in Spanish, from
@raudaz_
More to come....
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The new vice president of the Assembly, and Bukele's fmr minister of culture, uses an expression from Game of Thrones in reference to the annihilation of enemies by a fire-breathing dragon.
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In leaked audios published by El Faro on Tuesday, Carlos Marroquín, a state negotiator with MS-13, told the gang that he aided in the international escape of “Crook,” an MS-13 figurehead, despite a U.S. extradition request.
#efNewsletter
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🇸🇻The Salvadoran women's national team, two-thirds born in the US, has become the most successful soccer team in El Salvador. They did so with 40% less budget than the men, barely speaking Spanish, and challenging the national identity and fans’ misogyny.
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12 members of El Faro received an email from
@Apple
warning of possible espionage from “state-sponsored attackers.” The company also sent the alert to at least two civil society leaders and two opposition figures.
12 miembros de El Faro recibieron un correo electrónico de la empresa
@Apple
que advierte de un posible espionaje de “atacantes patrocinados por el Estado”. La alerta también llegó a dos dirigentes de organizaciones de sociedad civil en
#ElSalvador
.
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1K
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@_elfaro_
revealed in 2020 the existence of negotiations between Bukele officials and MS-13 for a reduction in homicides. Salvadoran prosecutors then documented how officials tried to bury evidence of the talks to fend off a criminal probe.
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Ya, finally, launched today: get the best journalism about Central America straight from Central America, as well as the best analysts, reporters, and photographers on the region.
Sign up for the newsletter here.
@_ElFaro_
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#efGANGS
| El Salvador's bureau of prisons authorized the release of a senior MS-13 leader from the max-security prison in Zacatecoluca to a hospital some 128km away. The closest hospital was just 12km away and the leader had a perfect bill of health. 🧵
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“They will not silence us," said
@_elfaro_
editor
@danliza
before leaving
#ElSalvador
today. The government revoked his legal status on Tuesday. "We'll continue offering the best information possible, to the best of our abilities, as society deserves."
229
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Alert: Salvadoran President Bukele announces via Tweet he will not abide by a Supreme Court order to stop detaining people who aren't following his quarantine decree.
Article in Spanish from
@_ElFaro_
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#Breaking
: Immediately after voting to remove and replace the five magistrates of
#ElSalvador
's Legislative Assembly, and on its first day in office, the legislature has begun the same action against Attorney General Raúl Melara tonight on the grounds that he is a partisan actor.
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A nurse fighting Coronavirus has gone 2 weeks without water in her home in the outskirts of San Salvador.
“You’re supposed to wash your shoes and clothing coming in from the street, but you can’t do that, because—what about the water?”
from
@raudaz_
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In response to the attacks, President Bukele insinuated that the assault was an inside job by the party as a last-ditch effort to avoid their collapse after the February 28 elections. "I didn't think they could stoop any lower," Bukele tweeted. "But they fell."
9
38
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#Breaking
: The
#ElSalvador
government took four leaders of MS-13 out of maximum-security prison during the massacre in March that marked the end of the Bukele administration’s gang negotiations and triggered the ongoing state of exception.
#GuacamayaLeaks
24
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#ElSalvador
| President
@nayibbukele
’s confrontation with the Congress over the financing for his security plan has the country on edge. The president has ordered Congress to come to session on Sunday, called for a protest the same day, and talks about “insurrection.”
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Interview with director of
@_ElFaro_
@jlsanz
published by
@confidencial_ni
"The current administration has spearheaded a confrontation with journalism, especially with the investigative media."
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31
74
Ricardo Zúñiga,
@StateDept
Special Envoy to the Northern Triangle, is in
#ElSalvador
today in Washington's first visit to
#CentAm
since Biden took office. Photo: Zúñiga, left, during a meeting yesterday with members of the Guatemalan justice system.
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#ElSalvador
| “We’ve seen other countries in the region travel down this path — as in Venezuela, where [Hugo] Chávez was democratically elected but, step by step, tried to gain more power,” said interim
@USAmbSV
Jean Manes of Bukele’s government.
8
29
76
📽️WATCH
#Unforgivable
NOW:
@DocUnforgivable
, the internationally-acclaimed short documentary directed by
@marlenvinayo
& produced by
@_elfaro_
&
@jaula_abierta
.
👉Catch the first Salvadoran film to qualify for an
#Oscar
nomination here: .
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If you're looking for a place to catch up on what some Salvadoran legal experts and the opposition are calling a technical coup d'etat against the judiciary in
#ElSalvador
in the past 24 hours, read
@_elfaro_
's summary in English 👇
5
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74
🎬 Last day to watch
@DocUnforgivable
, the first Salvadoran film to qualify for an
#Oscar2021
nomination!
👉 Register to watch on Vimeo:
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37
74
The Penal Code reforms approved this week by the Bukele-controlled legislature are a gag order against freedom of the press, free expression, and the public's right to be informed.
For 24 hours, in protest against those reforms, we close our homepage at
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6 members of US Congress express their "concerns regarding recent developments in El Salvador" including a "slow but sure departure from the rule of law and norms of democracy."
"We are also troubled by reports that the government of El Salvador could be legitimizing MS-13..."
Que seis congresistas del Partido Republicano manden una carta a
@nayibbukele
en la que externan preocupación por el ataque al Estado de Derecho en El Salvador significa una señal importante de alarma. Congresistas mencionan a Cuba, Nicaragua y Venezuela como modelos a evitar.
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For the next 30 days, the legislature suspended multiple constitutional guarantees, including the right to reunion, multiple rights of criminal defense including the presumption of innocence, protection from wiretapping without court order, and habeas corpus.
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🚨BREAKING: In a private meeting on Tuesday with Salvadoran political parties, TSE President Dora Martínez suggested the failure of the vote-count process on Sunday could have been intentionally provoked. She said she will file a complaint to the AG.
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69
"They're lying to you, Kamala," reads the sign from
#Guatemala
's Altiplano Campesino Committee outside the National Palace, protesting government attacks against anti-corruption prosecutors & independent judges. Kamala Harris arrives tonight & will meet tomorrow with Giammattei.
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69
🎬
#ComingSoon
:
@DocUnforgivable
Online Premiere on February 5th to 8th via
👉 Stay tuned for more details to watch the first Salvadoran movie to qualify for an
#Oscars2021
nomination.
2
20
66
Renowned Guatemalan publisher
@ChepeZamora
has spent weeks in pre-trial detention. FECI prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche told El Faro that the case to prosecute him was built in just 72 hours.
1
51
67
In moments when the free press is under attack, rigorous reporting is more important than ever.
Support the work of
@_ElFaro_
and El Faro English, and support the independent press.
🔴
#PeriodismoInc
ómodo | En momentos de ataques a la libertad de prensa, la información rigurosa es más importante que nunca.
#ApoyaAElFaro
👉
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Join us in congratulating
@_elfaro_
founding director
@CarlosDada
on receiving the
@ICFJ
Trailblazer Award!
"Under Dada’s visionary leadership, [El Faro] has fearlessly covered human rights violations, corruption, inequality and the aftermath of the country’s civil war."
.
@CarlosDada
, director of Salvadoran news site
@_elfaro_
, will receive the
@ICFJKnight
Trailblazer Award. Under his leadership, the outlet has fearlessly covered human rights violations, corruption & inequality, putting him at odds with the government and its allies.
#ICFJAwards
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17
66
Thousands trek across the U.S. to watch
#ElSalvador
's men's national soccer team. “Some of us are undocumented and we run the risk of traveling to border cities to support. All out of love for our country,” one fan told
@_elfaro_
's
@victorpena84
.
#efPhoto
2
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64
🇭🇳On Friday, Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted of drug trafficking charges in an expected ruling that further exposed how senior Honduran politicians have consorted with traffickers for the last two decades in Honduras, reports
@jeffgernst
.
4
74
65
Renowned Guatemalan publisher
@ChepeZamora
has spent a month in pre-trial detention. FECI prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche told El Faro that the case to prosecute him was built in just 72 hours.
1
35
64
#efOPINI
ÓN | The delirious spectacle of President Nayib Bukele delegitimizing the role of the Constitutional Chamber is, perhaps, the lowest moment that Salvadoran democracy has lived in three decades.
14
21
61
After President Bukele's party launched a mass purge of a third of
#ElSalvador
’s judges and prosecutors,
@_elfaro_
’s editorial board denounces not only the end of judicial independence, but the end of our Republic as we know it.
#efNewsletter
10
31
63
Since the collapse of the gang pact, more than 31,000 Salvadorans have been detained in police operations widely criticized by human rights groups. Marroquín called the conditions of their confinement “torture.” Read the full investigation here.
7
20
62
BREAKING: The US State Dept has added the five magistrates of El Salvador's Constitutional Court, illegally named by Bukele's Nuevas Ideas Party on May 1, and Guatemalan AG Consuelo Porras to the
#EngelList
4
29
62
Days after Bukele's spat with
@NormaJTorres
, the
@HispanicCaucus
today condemned "the recent string of personal attacks" against Torres and asserted, "it is wholly inappropriate for a foreign leader to interfere in a U.S. congressional election."
👉
#efNEWSLETTER
📰 In case you missed it, be sure to check out our news brief: "Bukele and Norma Torres Clash Days before White House Visit to El Salvador"
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"Demands that the United States respect El Salvador’s sovereignty are nothing more than a hypocritical smokescreen to mask rampant corruption."
#efEditorial
10
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#efEDITORIAL
| El Faro editor Daniel Lizarraga is leaving
#ElSalvador
today after the Bukele administration expelled him from the country. But both he and
@_elfaro_
remain committed to independent journalism and investigating corruption.
16
34
59
#efCARTOON
|
@Ottoteibol
,
@_elfaro_
's cartoonist, weighs in on Bukele's recent trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with senior Biden officials:
1
15
60
The constitution prohibits immediate reelection for presidents serving at least six months, and says that “the presidential period shall be of five years...without the person who exercised the Presidency able to continue in their functions one day more.”
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Per the recordings Bukele, referenced in the negotiations as “Batman,” was at all times informed of the talks. Marroquín’s efforts to save the agreement during the homicide crisis went unheeded, and he was cut out of deliberations.
9
19
58
As a show of good faith to the gangs, Marroquín also admits to having personally taken from prison and provided safe passage to Guatemala to “Crook,” an MS-13 leader facing criminal charges in El Salvador and a U.S. extradition request.
#efNewsletter
7
21
57
Sources accuse
#Guatemala
's attorney general of obstructing the investigation. In November she called for the judge handling the case to turn over the testimony and witness identity. The judge refused and now may face impeachment.
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37
56
Protests are also directed against the Supreme Court's ruling to allow Bukele to run for reelection despite constitutional prohibitions.
#efNewsletter
4
20
59
In the recordings the official, Carlos Marroquín, notes that the talks fell apart after MS-13 felt betrayed by the government for the arrest of a group of MS-13 leaders traveling in a government vehicle. In response, they killed 87 people.
#efNewsletter
9
18
57
The
@USTreasury
has announced Magnitsky sanctions on three subsidiaries of Solway, the Swiss-Russian firm operating a nickel mine in El Estor, Guatemala, and two of the company’s leaders, freezing US assets and banning them from doing business in the US.
3
30
56
#ElFaroElections
| The polling was correct, and El Salvador woke up this morning to a new era in which one man, President Nayib Bukele, will have near absolute control over the country. Read our post-election analysis.
👉
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34
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#OttosTake
on the leaked audios revealing the collapse of negotiations between the administration of Nayib Bukele, codenamed "Batman," and the Mara Salvatrucha. Via
@Ottoteibol
15
23
58
Breaking: The
@StateDept
has designated former Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei as "generally ineligible" for US entry, citing "credible information indicating that [he] accepted bribes in exchange for the performance of his public functions."
1
34
57
#Breaking
:
@USTreasury
issued Magnitsky sanctions against two key Bukele admin officials in
#ElSalvador
for leading covert gov’t negotiations w/ gangs MS-13 and 18 Street in 2020 for a reduction in homicides and electoral support for the president’s party.
2
32
56
#efNEWSLETTER
📰 "Bukele’s Inner Circle Hit in State Department Corruption List"
@_elfaro_
's round-up on the
@StateDept
report on corrupt officials in
#ElSalvador
,
#Honduras
&
#Guatemala
, a precursor to the Engel List this June.
👉
6
31
55
#ElMozoteFiles
| All this week,
@_elfaro_
will live-stream the case against the alleged military perpetrators of the
#ElMozote
massacre, which took place 40 years ago. Stay tuned here for live updates from the hearings, and get our analysis in English. 👉
0
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Official documents obtained by El Faro through the
#GuacamayaLeaks
show that MS-13 leader Élmer Canales Rivera's illegal release from prison in November was registered in emails, police profiles, and other reports from the Salvadoran police and prisons.
22
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