Bukele has been the subject of much criticism, many in Washington and from officials in the Joe Biden administration for his weakening of democratic institutions, his blows to press freedom, and his lack of transparency. government.
According to a report from the site ForeignLobby.com, the Nayib Bukele government signed a $ 1.2 million contract for advisory services with a former high-level diplomat. This, the report states, in the face of a negotiation that El Salvador will hold with the International Monetary Fund to obtain financing of $ 1.3 billion with which they seek to order public finances.
According to Foreign Lobby, “this contract comes as the 39-year-old president has been racking up influential signatures to counter criticism of his populist style of government and to promote American and foreign investment in the Central American country.”
According to the site, the government is now allocating $ 240,000 a month in lobbying.
Bukele has been the target of numerous criticisms, many of them in Washington and from officials in Joe Biden’s administration and both parties in the US Congress. This, due to its weakening of democratic institutions, its blows to freedom of the press and the lack of transparency of its government.
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These issues, it has been warned, generate political uncertainty, and reduce credibility and confidence in the country and can scare away investment and funding prospects in El Salvador.
Chief Cabildero is a retired veteran diplomat
The lobbying effort, according to the site, will be led by veteran U.S. diplomat Tom Shannon. He became Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere and retired from a long career in the State Department in 2018.
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According to the register of agents representing foreign governments in the Department of Justice, on Shannon’s side is Raúl Herrera, who served as an adviser to the private sector support wing of the Inter-American Development Bank.