After traveling without an invitation, Bukele’s orders to meet with the State Department and a Presidential official Joe Biden were denied, a source in Washington confirmed to The Daily.
The President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, was in Washington DC the previous week, where he sought meetings with the State Department, equivalent to the US Chancellery, and with Juan González, chief adviser to the National Security Council. of the White House for the Western Hemisphere.
Orders to meet with the State Department and with this Presidential official Joe Biden were denied.
SEE: US congressmen urge Bukele to step aside from speeches of political violence
This was confirmed to El Diari d’Avui by a source in Washington with first-hand information from President Biden’s team, who added that Bukele only managed to arrange a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of States. Americans (OAS), Luis Almagro.
In a recent interview with El Far, the White House chief adviser for the hemisphere stated that “the leader who is not ready to fight corruption will not be an ally for the United States.” He also said the Biden administration has “differences with the Bukele government,” in reference to its democratic record.
The source close to the White House consulted by El Diari d’Avui stated that denying Bukele’s meeting request and González’s interview send a fairly clear message: “The rule of law, respect for the basic rules in a democracy they are going to be important to the Biden administration based on these principles and not ideology. “
He also explained that Biden officials did not want to be manipulated and that the meetings would serve as electoral gains in the face of the February 28 elections.
This reaction is in line with the approach of the new US government, which says it will place special emphasis on democracy and the fight against corruption to work with its allies in Central America. And Democratic congressmen, Biden’s co-supporters, have repeatedly expressed their condemnation of the coups on institutionalization and the persecution of journalists by the Bukele government.
Deputies react
Salvadoran MPs René Portillo Quadra, of ARENA, and Cristina Cornejo, of the FMLN, reacted to Bukele’s truncated intention to hold meetings with Joe Biden government officials.
“We have learned that the President (Bukele) paid a visit to the United States who was not invited and that there was guidance not to be received until there is a change of attitude from him, it should be remembered that the president is of all Salvadorans, “Cornejo said.
According to the efemelenista deputy, the touches of attention that Bukele has received in a letter sent by several American congressmen they stress to the president that he must abandon his speeches of “hatred, persecution and confrontation” that has already generated fatalities, in reference to the death of two FMLN militants in an election campaign caravan.
“As members of Congress, we know very well what can happen when political leaders respond to signs of violence with messages that promote chaos, misinformation, division, and fear,” said Democrats Norma Torres and Albio Sires.
“I like these calls for attention and we hope that the President of the Republic will pay attention at least to international bodies because he does not want to pay attention to the Salvadorans, with violence nothing is achieved, we have seen this violence that generates division, hatred and death and we will continue to insist on changing this reality, “Cornejo said.
For his part, Portillo Quadra agreed with Cornejo to claim that they have information that in the last hours Bukele went to the United States, but was not received, due to the rhetoric that the ruler has shown since he took the reins of the Salvadoran government in June 2019.
“President Bukele has paid a visit to Washington in the last few hours without being invited to the United States, none of the congressmen, none of the members of the Biden administration cabinet have received him, precisely because he is listed as a president who encourages hatred, which encourages division, disrespect for institutions and the rule of law, disrespects journalists and the opposition and this has earned him no acceptance in political circles in Washington, “said Portillo Quadra.
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