After traveling uninvited, Bukele’s requests to meet with the State Department and an official of President Joe Biden were denied, a Washington source confirmed to El Diario de Hoy.
The President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, was in Washington DC the week before, meeting with the State Department, equivalent to the United States Department of State, and Juan González, Chief Adviser to the National Security Council for Western. White House. Hemisphere.
Requests to meet with the State Department and this official of President Joe Biden were denied.
SEE: US Congressmen are urging Bukele to stay away from speeches about political violence
This was confirmed to El Diario de Hoy by a Washington source with firsthand information from President Biden’s team, who added that Bukele only managed to arrange a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States ( OAS), Luis Almagro.
In a recent interview with El Faro, the White House’s chief adviser to the hemisphere stated that “the leader who is not ready to fight corruption will not be an ally of the United States.” He also said the Biden government “has disagreements with the Bukele government” over its democratic track record.
The source close to the White House, consulted by El Diario de Hoy, stated that the denial of Bukele’s meeting request and González’s interview send a fairly clear message: “the rule of law, respect for basic standards in a democracy become important to the Biden government. based on these principles and not ideology. “
He also explained that Biden officials did not want to be manipulated and that the rallies were being used for election profit in light of the February 28 elections.
This response is in keeping with the approach of the new US administration, which it believes will place special emphasis on democracy and anti-corruption to work with its allies in Central America. And Democratic congressmen, supporters of Biden, have repeatedly condemned the Bukele government’s institutional beatings and persecution of journalists.
Delegates respond
Salvadoran delegates René Portillo Cuadra, of ARENA, and Cristina Cornejo, of the FMLN, responded to Bukele’s truncated intention to hold meetings with officials from Joe Biden’s government.
“We have been informed that the President (Bukele) was visiting the United States that was not invited and that there was no guidance until there was a change in his attitude, we must remember that the President is of all Salvadorans,” said Cornejo.
According to the Member of Parliament’s deputy, these are attention calls that Bukele has received in a letter from several US congressmen They stress to the president that he should stop his speeches of “ hatred, persecution and confrontation ” that have already caused fatalities in reference to the deaths of two FMLN militants in an electoral 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 love those calls for attention and we hope that the President of the Republic will at least pay attention to the international authorities as he does not want to pay attention to the Salvadorans, nothing is achieved by force, we have seen that violence that causes division, hatred and death and we will continue to push to change that reality, ”said Cornejo.
Portillo Cuadra, for his part, agreed with Cornejo in stating that they have information that Bukele has gone to the United States in recent hours, but has not been received due to the rhetoric the president has displayed since taking the reins of the Salvadoran . government in June 2019.
“ President Bukele has been visiting Washington for the past several hours without being invited to the United States, none of the congressmen, none of the members of Biden’s cabinet received him precisely because he is classified as a president who incites to hatred, which fosters division, disrespect for institutions and the rule of law, disrespect for journalists and the opposition, and that has resulted in him not being accepted in any way in political circles in Washington, “said Portillo Cuadra.
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