Dan Restrepo, interviewed on Channel 33, talked about the doors that were closed to the Salvadoran president and the message it sent: his undemocratic practices will not be validated.
Former Obama administration special adviser on Latin American affairs, Dan Restrepo, confirmed in an interview on Channel 33 what was reported by various media outlets: that the Joe Biden administration rejected requests for a meeting that Bukele had made when he was in Washington last week. week.
“I know firsthand. I know that President Bukele made efforts to hold meetings with officials of the new President Biden and they were not in attendance,” he said, adding that “it is well established here in Washington. that he was looking for these meetings and that he did not have a meeting. “
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The expert in the region did not delve into which institutions closed the door to the Salvadoran president, but explained that “these are the offices where a president would normally meet in Washington with key people on President Biden’s team, about the relationship with Latin America ”.
Restrepo added that “the message (from the White House) is quite clear (…) that those who respect democratic frameworks, the rule of law, will be close partners with the United States, and those who emerge from those frameworks , a more complex relationship ”.
In addition, he condemned what Bukele did for the diplomatic corps, where he discredited the press and cornered the U.S. embassy’s chargé d’affaires to support his version that he had never sought the meeting, something that has already been widely denied .
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According to Restrepo, Bukele is facing the first signs of a White House that will place more emphasis on democratization and the fight against corruption. Proof of this are the statements of his chief adviser on Latin American affairs, Juan González, who affirmed that the leader who does not fight corruption will not be a friend of Washington.
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In addition, he noted that President Joe Biden knows the region and its challenges well. “Look, what I know about President Biden is that he is a man who knows and believes and understands the importance of a good relationship between the United States and the peoples of Central America.”
Restrepo added that Biden “understands that the United States has an important role to play with civil society, with multilateral organizations, with the governments of the region, to confront the drivers of irregular migration and to seek to establish sustainable societies. building in El Salvador and in the other countries of the region. And he will get that job. “