El Salvador’s president snubbed a visiting U.S. diplomat.
Critics question El Salvador president’s rights commitment
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele refused to meet with a visiting U.S. diplomat this week over what he sees as a pattern of slights from Democrats and the Biden administration, according to two aides of the Central American leader.
Bukele’s decision not to meet with Ricardo Zuniga, the Biden administration’s envoy to the Northern Triangle countries of Central America, follows a snub he said he received from U.S. officials during an unannounced trip to Washington in February.
It also comes days after Bukele’s government awarded $1.2 million lobbying contract to the State Department’s former top career diplomat to improve ties with the new American president.
Zuniga traveled Wednesday to El Salvador after talks in Guatemala focused on immigration amid a surge in child migrants on the U.S. border. Upon arrival, he announced a $2 million U.S. contribution to an international commission seeking to strengthen the fight against corruption, which Biden officials see as one of the causes of illegal immigration.
Zuniga had hoped to see Bukele before heading back to Washington on Thursday, according to a State Department spokesman.
But Bukele has told aides that he won’t meet with any Biden officials until the U.S. softens criticism raising doubts about his commitment to democracy and the rule of law, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the diplomatic sensitivities.
The two said Bukele was angered by State Department spokesman
Ned Price’s comments Monday that the U.S. looks forward to Bukele restoring a “strong separation of powers where they’ve been eroded and demonstrate his government’s commitment to transparency and accountability.”
The Biden administration is seeking to undo Trump’s hard-line immigration policies restricting asylum requests, which Bukele embraced in exchange for strong U.S. support for his tough governing style.
With the U.S policy under review, El Salvador last month hired former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon to engage Bukele’s critics, according to foreign lobby records with the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed this week.