In the most recent update of this portal, we warned about migration and security issues involving the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Also, we verified that in 2021 the number of immigrants from TNAC detained on the border with Mexico had surpassed the number of Mexicans themselves. This problem links to the crime associated with drug cartels and delinquent gangs known as "maras," created by immigrants from Central America and operating in the United States and their birthplace countries. 

Given the complexity of the issue in this region, Joe Biden appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the matter. In June 2021, she traveled to Mexico and Guatemala to discuss measures with local authorities to curb illegal immigration and address the origins of this massive population displacement. Finally, also in that recent report, we dealt with the US sanctions imposed on individuals in Guatemala and El Salvador and established a task force on October 15th, led by the Department of Justice, to tackle corruption in the Triangle countries.

On Wednesday, December 8th, the TNAC issue resurfaced when the US Treasury Department announced a round of sanctions against corruption networks linked to transnational organized crime. This list included the Salvadoran officials Osiris Luna Meza, head of the Penal System and deputy minister of Justice and Public Security, Carlos Amilcar Marroquin Chica, president of the Presidency's Social Fabric Reconstruction unit, and Alma Yanira Meza Olivares, mother of Osiris Luna Meza.

The US government accused these officials of negotiating with jailed gang leaders, including those from Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) and Barrio-18, to reduce the number of murders in the country. 

The next day, during the International Anti-Corruption Day, the Department of Treasury issued a new list and included Martha Carolina Recinos De Bernal, Chief of Staff of President Nayib Bukele, who has allegedly headed a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme involving the construction of hospitals and the purchase of supplies to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 

On December 10th, DoT issued the third list of sanctions on "International Anti-Corruption Day," which targeted people and entities from China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and North Korea. It is worth mentioning that this round of sanctions was announced just when Joe Biden hosted the "Summit of Democracy", a virtual meeting that aimed at "renewing democracy at home and confronting autocracies abroad”, and whose centerline was the fight against authoritarianism, the fight against corruption, and the promotion of human rights. The event was attended by 111 countries, including Taiwan and Kosovo, entities not recognized by the UN. 

The United States unilateral sanctions are based on the “Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, EO 13818” of December 20th, 2017, as an addendum to the law created in 2012 during the Obama administration. 

According to this law, all properties and interests in property of the persons above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. 

At first glance, the sanctions imposed against authorities in El Salvador are related to corruption and transnational crime linked to drug trafficking and violence sponsored by the “maras.” Since taking office in 2019, President Nayib Bukele has carried out a government considered controversial, thus reflecting his personality. When he was the mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán and San Salvador, he defined himself as a leftist cadre. The presidential office was his turning point, when Bukele showed himself as a conservative and authoritarian politician, moving closer to Donald Trump. Eventually, the unpredictability of his positionings has caused many political crises in his country.

The first political crisis faced by Bukele occurred on February 9th, 2020, when he led Army troops into the Legislative Assembly to coerce deputies into approving a $109 million loan request from the Central American Bank Integration Program (BCIE). This loan aimed to improve the means of Police and Armed Forces to confront the endemic violence spread in the country. At that time, when Bukele's party was a minority in parliament, the country was on the brink of a coup, but the president backed down despite his widespread approval.

Another institutional crisis occurred in May 2021, when the Legislative Assembly approved the removal of five ministers of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General of El Salvador. It is essential to note that in February 2021, Bukele's party, "Nuevas Ideias," won a two-thirds majority in parliament, which granted it powers to carry out profound reforms in the country. In addition to internal criticism, the action led by Bukele resulted in an international crisis, such as that which involved congresswoman Norma Torres - California (D), who accused Bukele of authoritarianism and called for sanctions against her government. 

Also, on account of the dismissal of judges, on May 4th, Senator Robert Menéndez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his fellow Democrat, Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, issue a note to pressure El Salvador parliaments: "We urge our fellow legislators in El Salvador to immediately reverse this anti-democratic power grab and avoid any weakening of our bilateral relations at this consequential moment for the region. Additionally, we urge the Biden administration to engage with the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions and make it clear that United States support for funding to the Bukele government should be contingent on respect for democracy, judicial independence, and the rule of law in the country." 

It is worth remembering that Bukele had already clashed with Democratic lawmakers in the United States when he urged the people of California not to re-elect Congresswoman Norma Torres. As a result, Democratic lawmaker Albio Sires (NJ) warned that Bukele's threats and interference hurt the national security of the United States: “I will close my remarks by addressing an issue that threatens to undermine our efforts to engage constructively with countries in Central America. In recent weeks, Salvadoran government officials have attempted to discredit individual members of the United States Congress or to use disinformation to misrepresent individual members’ views. Unfortunately, this campaign to manipulate public perception has been supported by millions of dollars in payments to U.S. lobbyists. Members of Congress are receiving death threats and harassment as a result. Recently, it has escalated to the point where El Salvador’s head of state urged a member of Congress’ constituents to vote her out of office and disseminated conspiracy theories supported by her political opponents. This is foreign election interference. If it continues, we will confront it as a national security threat to the United States”.

Nayib Bukele is an unconventional politician. He refers to himself as a geek and a millennial, which guarantees him a lot of familiarity with new technologies and social networks, including using the fake news feature extensively, as in the case mentioned above. In this sense, another measure, this time with great worldwide repercussion, was the announcement that the country would adopt Bitcoin as the currency of local circulation. This idea came into force on September 7th, when the Chivo Wallet app went into operation, allowing the conversion of digital currency into dollars, the paper currency of local circulation. The app enables emigrants' remittances to be made without intermediation fees, such as those charged by Western Union or PayPal agents. This measure alone would guarantee savings of US$400 million to Salvadorans and would give the country the means to alleviate possible sanctions for transactions denominated in dollars. For Bukele's critics, cryptocurrency adoption could facilitate money laundering and boost illegal transactions, including benefiting the "maras" gangs. 

Another point of friction between the Bukele government and the Biden administration concerns the law approved on October 15th, which regulates the financing of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with foreign funds, the so-called “Foreign Agents Law.” Under the measure, all persons and organizations whose activities are directly or indirectly supported by a foreign entity must register as a “foreign agent” and undergo government inspections. The law also creates a 40% tax applied to foreign payments made to NGOs. In light of this, Deputies Albio Sires and Mark Green (R-TN) issued a statement urging the government of El Salvador to reverse the effects of that law: “We urge the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly to reconsider its proposed ‘foreign agents’ law and avoid undermining the operations of independent non-governmental organizations in El Salvador. The draft law would give limitless discretion to the executive branch to shut down independent organizations under a guise of protecting ‘public order’. It would also impact independent journalism while imposing crushing tax penalties on charity groups and faith-based organizations working to help the most vulnerable Salvadorans.” 

In this environment of deteriorating relations between El Salvador and the Biden government, the issue of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and the role of the “maras” is an element to be considered, as it involves a recurring theme in the popular imagination of the United States and has great electoral appeal. The application of sanctions against Salvadoran authorities is related to an alleged secret negotiation between the Bukele government and the two main maras, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, to lower murder rates in the country. Department of Treasury officials said that in 2020, the Bukele government provided financial incentives to the Salvadoran maras MS-13 and Barrio 18 to ensure that incidents of gang violence and the number of homicides remained low, as well as ensuring political support to the party to the “Nuevas Ideas” in the early 2021 elections. 

The disputes between both countries even advanced to the Washington government's criticism of the measure that authorizes Bukele's reelection, approved by the country's Supreme Court, as follows: “The United States government condemns the September 3 ruling by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador, which authorized immediate presidential re-election in contravention of the Salvadoran constitution. The Salvadoran constitution clearly prohibits presidential incumbents from re-election to a consecutive term”. It is essential to highlight that there is an additional factor of great relevance at this level of rivalry that is implied in the measures to contain, or perhaps depose, Nayib Bukele: the China factor.

Until 2018, El Salvador was one of the few countries in Latin America to keep diplomatic relations with Taiwan. That year, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) recognized the principle of one China and established relations with the Beijing government. The following year, Salvadorans elected Bukele, a former member of the FMLN, who early on in government promised to review the status change with China. In a lecture at the Heritage Foundation, on March 13th, 2019, Bukele used very harsh words against the Beijing government, saying that the country does not respect rules, artificially maintains its exchange rate, and infrastructure projects are not viable endows heavy debts to countries. Bukele then demanded China's respect for El Salvador continue bilateral relations. On that occasion, he said what the far-right audience would like to hear. 

In a meeting with Trump, on September 25th, 2019, Bukele stated: “Well, we’re very happy to be here. It’s an honor to be with the President of the United States and with his team. It’s — we’re very impressed and — the whole team being here. And actually, for us, the United States is not only a partner and an ally, but also a friend. And we’re going to show that friendship — that’s one of the reasons we signed the agreement is because we want to show that friendship to our most important ally, which is the United States. And for us, this is very, very important”. 

Despite this, Bukele was received by Chinese President Xi Jinping on December 3rd, 2019, on a state visit, when they signed some agreements. On that occasion, the president of El Salvador said, "my country appreciates China's help and looks forward to cooperation with China in the areas of investment, trade, infrastructure construction, agriculture, tourism, culture and science, and technology, as well as Belt and Road Initiative." Bukele also said he hoped his visit could be a new starting point to open up a bright future for bilateral relations. As it turns out, it was a 180-degree shift. Given the context of rivalries between China and the United States and the Washington's pressures against a Chinese presence in the "Western Hemisphere," Bukele has since come to enjoy the antipathy of the US government.

One of the points of distrust of the United States concerning the China-El Salvador partnership is building a sizeable industrial-commercial project, an airport, and a tourist complex adjacent to La Union port, in the deep waters of the deep waters Fonseca Bay. This project is led by the Chinese state-owned company Beijing Asia Pacific Xuanhao Project Investment and will require investments of US$23 billion. The project's location is close to Honduras and Nicaragua and could be a hub for further investments in the region. 

The US establishment is uncomfortable with China's presence in a traditionally under its influence region. In this regard, it is worth reading the report prepared by Robert Evan Ellis, which gives an overview of the different aspects of the Beijing and San Salvador relationship. Ellis drew attention to the threats to Washington's strategic interests while reinforcing the US government's need to adopt concrete action to counter Chinese investments by using DFC and America Crece Initiative. In this regard, it is also worth quoting an NBC News report that warns against the Chinese presence in El Salvador: “American intelligence and military officials say the port project would give China a significant economic and strategic foothold in what has traditionally been an American sphere of influence. It is one of many examples of how China is making its power and influence felt across Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that officials say is harmful to U.S. interests, and via methods that the U.S. cannot employ”.

To conclude, it is worth considering that the escalation of sanctions against the government of El Salvador has a robust geopolitical component with a view to trying to contain China's presence in Central America. The justifications for imposing sanctions, however relevant, even more so against an authoritarian government like Nayib Bukele's, could justify the adoption of sanctions against many US allies involved in transnational crimes, human rights violations, and corruption. There is a lot. However, the logic realpolitik directs its artillery against what is most sensitive, such as the current state of strategic competition between Washington and Beijing, in which the government of a small Central American country is only a pawn, and its president is the villain of the story.