According to the special envoy of the administration of Joe Biden, the visit to the country is fruitful and managed to communicate the important messages of the White House to El Salvador.
The Biden administration’s special envoy to the Northern Triangle, Ricardo Zúñiga, confirmed that it was not possible for him to establish a relationship with President Nayib Bukele on the first day of his visit to El Salvador.
“Yes, we requested the meeting, we did not receive it, I do not know how to specify,” said the diplomat who will oversee US foreign policy for Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
However, he did not detail why he did not hold the meeting with the Salvadoran president. Zúñiga simply said that it is normal that in such a busy agenda it is not possible to specify some of the planned meetings and about the reasons behind not being able to meet, he said that “he will have to ask the presidency “.
However, according to the special envoy of the Biden administration, the visit to the country is fruitful and he managed to communicate the important messages of the White House to El Salvador.
This message is that democratic governance is central to the link between El Salvador and the United States. In addition, that the fight against corruption is the central axis of his country’s plan to reduce irregular migration.
SEE ALSO: Joe Biden’s envoy to the North Triangle fails to meet with Nayib Bukele
Therefore, he reinforced the message given on his first day in El Salvador: that the model of an institution with international support and funding is central to strengthening the fight against illicit acts, which in the case of the country is the CICIES.
On Wednesday, he announced that the United States will give $ 2 million to CICIES to continue the fight against corruption El Salvador. Yesterday, the Commission detailed that it had sent the Public Prosecutor’s Office 12 warnings of alleged corruption in 5 state institutions, although it did not say which cases they were.
Zúñiga also welcomed the proposal of civil society to strengthen the CICIES with greater independence from the Presidency, give it more financial autonomy and give it more powers such as complaining in corruption processes.
However, President Bukele has already announced that he opposes this initiative. Faced with this, the White House envoy simply said it was a “sovereign decision” of El Salvador.
SEE ALSO: US spends $ 2 million to strengthen anti-impunity commission
Democracy will be essential
For Ricardo Zúñiga, democracy and the rule of law are fundamental pillars of what he calls “enabling conditions” for Salvadorans to have prosperity and social mobility, thus preventing or reducing irregular migration.
And one of the points he put the most emphasis on in his conversation with Salvadoran journalists is precisely respect for freedom of the press.
The White House envoy expressed concern about the pressures facing the media and added that journalists play a crucial role in democratic culture, something that is in Washington’s interest in strengthening. He also said that the US government uses journalistic reports from Salvadoran media to base its positions and analyzes on El Salvador and its democracy.
SEE ALSO: CICIES has sent 12 cases of possible corruption to the Prosecutor’s Office