El Salvador’s new president: ‘Tacky’ to ask the US for money
By Jim Hayek July 22, 2019
El Salvador’s new president wants a good relationship with President Trump and won’t let something like the recent freeze in foreign aid rock the boat.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who took office in June, is working to renew relations with Washington after his predecessor made a dramatic turn toward China amid immigration-related tensions with Trump’s administration.
“The problem is that rather to be looking for handouts, we should be looking for partnership,” Bukele told reporters. “So I think that will improve more the life of our people than getting some check with free money. It’s tacky to ask for money when it’s their money.”
Bukele’s comments came after he met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the end of a four-country tour through South America.
“The previous government was eroding the relationship with our most important ally,” Bukele said Sunday. “Really, our relationship with the United States is the most important one we have in the world, and before it was eroded by the previous administration, but right now I think it’s quite clear that the new administration of El Salvador is willing to work 100% with the United States government and with the United States people.”
China has courted El Salvador in recent years, using foreign aid packages one tool to convince then-President Salvador Sanchez Ceren to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and pivot to Beijing instead. U.S. officials hope that Bukele will reverse that decision, in light of growing concern about China’s influence in Latin America.
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“President Bukele made very clear his commitment to be a great partner of the United States, and we’ve seen that in the first 50 days already, and we are deeply appreciative of that,” Pompeo said. “We want tighter partnerships all throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
Bukele’s comments could still foreshadow a restoration of U.S. aid to his country, but he is careful to couch that in terms of a partnership against transnational gangs. “It sounds tacky to have the top U.S. official and ask him for free money,” he said. “What we said is that we want to work together with them in solving the problems that we both have. For example, they have gangs in the U.S. They have MS-13 over there, and we have MS-13 here, so of course, it’s of common interest to fight MS-13 and the other gangs.”
He stressed that U.S. investment and support in rallying international investors would be ore valuable than any foreign aid package.
“That will cause more benefit for our people because investment will come, because companies that might be doubtful of investing in El Salvador will say … ‘The United States government is saying that El Salvador is doing the right things,’” he said. “So I think that will improve more the life of our people than getting some check with free money.”
