Since he is a political nominee, not a career diplomat, he will leave the country when Democrat Joe Biden takes office and whoever appointed him, Donald Trump, comes out of power.
With the departure of Donald Trump from power on January 20, US Ambassador to El Salvador, Ronald Douglas Johnson, will also leave the country.
This was confirmed to El Diario de Hoy by various sources inside and outside the US Embassy, who received the information about the diplomat’s departure.
Being a political appointment and not a career diplomat, Ronald Johnson’s position responded more on a par with Donald Trump’s administration than with the State Department.
Matt Boland, public affairs adviser at the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador, explained to El Diario de Hoy thatAmbassadors are appointed by the president and must be ratified by the United States Senate. If the president is not re-elected after an election, it is customary for all ambassadors of the United States to resign to the president ”.
The diplomatic delegation official added that “according to this tradition and the White House memorandum for presidential appointments, the Ambassador and Ms. Johnson will leave the US Embassy in El Salvador on January 20, 2021,” and assured that “the United States States want to help improve security, create economic growth and promote good governance in El Salvador. Those goals have not changed significantly in a decade and most importantly, if El Salvador is safe and prosperous, it will be good for the United States too ”.
Boland stated that “we have had these important goals under Republican presidents and Democratic presidents and I believe the United States and El Salvador will remain focused on these shared goals.”
SEE: Ambassador Ronald Johnson: “America’s Friendship Depends on Respect for Democracy”
General guideline
Along the same lines, the Trump administration on Thursday asked all of its politically appointed foreign military to resign, something they had been denying for a few weeks.
This is a formality that the US government, like many others in the power transfer process, had been delaying, while remaining immersed in finding ways to reverse the election results that brought Joe Biden victory.
A report from the Washington Post notes a directive received by email from the heads of various government agencies asking them to file their effective resignations from the moment Biden takes office. This includes ambassadors and politically appointed personnel, that is also Ronald Johnson.
This call for resignation is generally made by outgoing governments between election day, early November and mid-December.
In Trump’s case, he only said on Thursday, Jan. 7, that he acknowledged the defeat and ensured a peaceful transition. Hours later, however, he said he will not be at Biden’s inauguration.
According to the Washington Post, the White House was far from following the tradition of calling for early redundancies, but even laying off staff caught looking for new jobs.
SEE: Freedom of speech is essential to democracy, Ambassador Johnson says
Chiaroscuro
Ambassador Ronald Johnson arrived in the country in September 2019, a few months after Nayib Bukele’s government took office.
During his period in El Salvador, a close relationship was experienced between the two countries, after years of strained ties during the FMLN governments.
This was initially positively valued, bearing in mind that the United States welcomes millions of Salvadorans, many of whom are waiting for their immigration status to be regularized.
However, Ambassador Johnson has been harshly criticized for being silent or not strict enough in some periods of attacks on institutions, the rule of law and fundamental safeguards such as freedom of the press.
When the State Department stated in May 2020 that El Salvador could receive more money, but added a section stating that Nayib Bukele’s government had weakened democratic institutions such as the Legislative Assembly or the Supreme Court.
The American equivalent of the Chancellery emphasized the military takeover of Congress, led by Bukele in February, and the disdain for rulings of the Constitutional Chamber. In addition, the report explained the government’s efforts to silence critical voices of opponents and journalists. When asked about this in a conference with Bukele, the ambassador limited himself to saying that both countries are friends and that friends do not always have to agree on everything.
In view of the ongoing attacks on journalists and critical media, and attempts to undermine freedom of the press, the ambassador said he demanded respect from the media, but asked to ensure that “there are no journalists in prison”. However, there is digital harassment from the president, his officials and his fans. There is political manipulation of the government directive, a blockade of official government sources, and a significant expenditure of public funds to fund a network of government propaganda media. These issues were not condemned by Johnson.
When Democratic and Republican lawmakers called on the Bukele government for its attacks on institutions and the press, the president downplayed them, saying they were a very small number. At first, Johnson echoed these statements, stating that there were indeed few lawmakers, but later corrected, saying that every statement by US congressmen was important.
During his time in El Salvador, Johnson has followed a line consistent with that of the Trump administration by acting in a “transactional” manner. In other words, it has given back to the Bukele administration, despite dark episodes against the rule of law, in exchange for the Salvadoran government’s entry into the immigration policy promoted by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, for its acronym in English).