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☆ El Salvador arrests more than 100 Colombians in financial scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, July 17 (Reuters) - Salvadoran police arrested more than a hundred Colombians for their alleged involvement in operating a microfinancing scheme that laundered money from drug running and gang activities, security officials said on Monday. The criminal group reportedly made loans, using funds obtained illegally, to individuals and small businesses with 20% interest, according to the officials. Some $20 million in money linked to drug trafficking gangs is estimated to have been sent to Colombia since 2021 under the scheme, added Delgado. Colombia's foreign ministry said it was in talks with its embassy and consulate in El Salvador over the arrests, but did not offer further comment on the accusations facing the Colombian nationals. Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Additional reporting by Oliver Griffin in Bogota Writing by Kylie Madry Editing by David Alire Garcia and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Rodolfo Delgado, Delgado, Bukele, Nelson Renteria, Oliver Griffin, Kylie Madry, David Alire Garcia, Matthew Lewis Organizations: SALVADOR, Salvadoran, Twitter, Colombian, Thomson Locations: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemalan, Argentine, San Salvador, Bogota

☆ Salvadoran President Bukele's party names him as 2024 candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, July 9 (Reuters) - Salvadoran political party Nuevas Ideas chose President Nayib Bukele on Sunday as its candidate for the presidential elections of early 2024, even though the country's constitution does not allow consecutive terms for the presidency. The president - favored in the 2024 election by nearly 70% of Salvadorans - and his Vice President Felix Ulloa still need to register as candidates with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to formalize their candidacy. His "war" against gangs in El Salvador has led to more than 66,000 people being imprisoned and earned Bukele unprecedented popularity. Bukele has denied the allegations but undercover negotiations with gangs have not been unusual in El Salvador. Salvadorans will vote on Feb. 4 next year to elect a president and vice president for the 2024-2029 term and legislators until 2027.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Bukele, Felix Ulloa, Mauricio Funes, Salvadorans, Nelson Renteria, Anna, Catherine Brigida, Tom Hogue Organizations: SALVADOR, FMLN, Thomson Locations: Salvadoran, United States, El, El Salvador

☆ Guatemala will vote for new president but critics say many anti-corruption candidates were weeded out
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

One of the expelled candidates, the rightwing Roberto Arzú, was a vocal critic of President Alejandro Giammattei. Employees of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) arrange ahead of the general elections in Guatemala City on June 20, 2023. Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty ImagesIt’s not the first time that Guatemala’s electoral tribunal eliminates presidential hopefuls, but this year’s cycle is happening in rapidly shrinking civic space. Failing battle against corruptionRights groups say graft and impunity accelerated in the country after former President Jimmy Morales dissolved a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission in 2019. The candidatesThe US and Western allies have raised concerns about the exclusion of presidential candidates in Guatemala.

Persons: CNN —, Sandra Torres, Thelma Cabrera, Carlos Pineda –, ” Will Freeman, Roberto Arzú, Alejandro Giammattei, Cabrera, Pineda, Tik Tok, ”, Johan Ordonez, we’ve, Caren, Jimmy Morales, Consuelo Porras Argueta, Antony Blinken, José Rubén Zamora, Moises Castillo, Porras, –, Kevin López, Giammattei, Freeman, Biden, “, ” Freeman, Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, Guatemalans, Maria Consuelo Porras, Mulet, Carin, Edmont, Ríos, Torres, Rios, El, Nayib Bukele, Álvaro Colom, Colom, Efraín Ríos Montt, CICIG Organizations: CNN, Council, Foreign Relations, Twitter, “ Corruption, Constitutional, ” CNN, Getty, Americas Society, United, International Commission, Washington Office, Guatemala Human Rights, USA, Prosecutors, US, State, José Rubén Zamora –, . Press, Patrol, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Public Ministry, United Nations, Agence, France Presse, Analysts Locations: Central America’s, Guatemala, America, Guatemala City, Americas, United Nations, Guatemalan, Central America, American, Washington, United States, Haiti, Nicaragua, France

☆ El Salvador slashes size of Congress ahead of elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele delivers a speech to mark his fourth year in office, in San Salvador, El Salvador June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Jessica Orellana/File PhotoSAN SALVADOR, June 7 (Reuters) - El Salvador's Congress passed an electoral reform in the early hours of Wednesday to reduce the lawmaking body's size by nearly a third, a move the ruling party says will reduce spending and critics say consolidates power ahead of elections. The reform, announced last week by President Nayib Bukele in an address marking four years in government, cuts the unicameral Congress' size from 84 lawmakers to 60. Presidential and legislative elections will be held in February, with municipal and regional Central American Parliament elections scheduled for March. In 2021, El Salvador's top court, whose members are appointed by Congress which is controlled by the president's party, ruled that Bukele could stand for re-election, a decision that drew international condemnation.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Jessica Orellana, Bukele, Anabel Belloso, Nelson Renteria, Kylie Madry, Bill Berkrot Organizations: El, San Salvador , El, REUTERS, SALVADOR, Salvador's Congress, FMLN, Central American, Thomson Locations: San Salvador ,, San Salvador , El Salvador, Congress, El

☆ El Salvador partnership to build $1 billion bitcoin mining farm
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, June 5 (Reuters) - A public-private partnership in El Salvador will pump $1 billion into creating one of the world's largest bitcoin mining farms, the group called Volcano Energy announced on Monday. Volcano Energy said the funds would go toward an estimated 241 MW power generation park using solar and wind energy in the northwestern municipality of Metapan, which will eventually power the bitcoin mining farm. Bitcoin mining uses high-power computers hooked up to a global network, sucking up massive amounts of electricity in the process. The El Salvador government will have "a preferred participation equivalent to 23% of the revenues" in the project, Volcano Energy said, with private investors holding 27%. Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador and Kylie Madry in Mexico City; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Josue Lopez, Max Keiser, Nelson Renteria, Kylie Madry, Aurora Ellis Organizations: SALVADOR, Volcano Energy, Salvadoran, Reuters, International Monetary Fund, El, U.S ., Thomson Locations: El Salvador, Salvador's, Metapan, San Salvador, Mexico City

☆ El Salvador president pledges white-collar prison in 'war' on corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele delivers a speech to mark his fourth year in office, in San Salvador, El Salvador June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Jessica OrellanaSAN SALVADOR, June 1 (Reuters) - El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele on Thursday pledged to build a prison to hold white-collar criminals as part of a crackdown on corruption that he likened to his fight against criminal gangs. "Just as we built a prison for the terrorists, we will build one for the corrupt." "We will fight white-collar criminals wherever they come from," Bukele added, "but we will only use legal means." Later in the speech, Bukele said former President Alfredo Cristiani's property was being raided.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Jessica Orellana, Bukele, Alfredo Cristiani's, Salvadorans, Nelson Renteria, Lizbeth Diaz, Sarah Morland, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: El, San Salvador , El, REUTERS, SALVADOR, Thomson Locations: San Salvador ,, San Salvador , El Salvador

☆ El Salvador court sentences ex-President Funes to 14 years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, May 29 (Reuters) - A court in El Salvador sentenced former President Mauricio Funes and his justice minister to over a decade behind bars for their ties with criminal groups and failure to comply with duties, the attorney general's office said in a tweet on Monday. Funes was sentenced to 14 years and former justice and defense minister, David Munguia, to 18. Funes, who governed from 2009 to 2014 and lives in Nicaragua, was granted Nicaraguan citizenship in 2019. El Salvador has been living under a state of emergency declared by the government of President Nayib Bukele for more than a year. Official data shows 5,000 of the prisoners have been released, as authorities found no ties to criminal groups.

☆ El Salvador forces surround town in north after police killing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The officer was killed while on patrol in Nueva Concepcion, some 42 miles (67 km) northwest of the capital on Tuesday in an attack by alleged gang members, security authorities said. El Salvador has suspended constitutional rights in a so-called state of exception that allows police to swiftly arrest and jail suspected gang members while suspending their right to a lawyer and court approval of preliminary detention. Human rights groups say some innocent people have been caught up in the policy, including at least dozens who died in custody. Bukele's government has previously launched similar surges of security forces in urban areas considered highly dangerous in an attempt to stop drug trafficking and the movement of gang members. Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Sarah Morland Editing by Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Salvadoran lawmakers pass tech tax cut, including for AI businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The tech tax cut was championed by President Nayib Bukele, who first touted the legislation late last month. Bukele's New Ideas Party dominates the country's Congress. The bill exempts eligible companies from income tax, capital gains and local government taxes, as well as tariff payments on imported goods that technology businesses need. The new tax incentives for the nascent tech sector are only the latest efforts by Bukele and his allies to re-brand the Central American country as an emerging hub for innovation. In 2021, El Salvador made waves as the first nation to adopt the cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar.

☆ Human rights body urges El Salvador to restore civil rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, April 6 (Reuters) - A regional human rights body implored El Salvador's government on Thursday to reverse a year-long suspension of constitutional rights that form part of a sweeping anti-gang crackdown enacted last year and credited with sharply reducing violent crime. In a statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), part of the Washington-based Organization of American States, called on President Nayib Bukele and his allies in Congress to restore rights put on hold by the so-called state of exception. The emergency powers allow police to swiftly arrest and jail suspected gang members while suspending their right to a lawyer and court approval of preliminary detention. "IACHR calls on the government of El Salvador to restore the full validity of the rights and guarantees suspended during the last 12 months within the framework of the emergency regime," the body said in a statement. The state of exception followed the murders, blamed on gangs, of nearly 90 people over a single weekend in March 2022.

☆ Salvadorans demand release of innocents jailed in anti-gang sweep
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People participate in a protest to demand the release of relatives detained following a year-long state of emergency against gangs, in San Salvador, El Salvador March 28, 2023. In the capital San Salvador, many chanted "freedom for the innocent," in a march on Congress that attracted an estimated 500 protesters, according to organizer Samuel Ramirez. Holding a sign addressed to Bukele, 56-year-old housewife Maria Ruiz described the arrest of her husband Manuel Argumedo as an injustice. Another protester, Rosa Ramos, 43, called for the release of her two adult sons detained over the past couple months, despite what she says were no gang ties. Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ An 8-foot-tall portrait of Trump was among the foreign gifts that went missing when he left office. A reporter found it in a Trump hotel, collecting dust, next to a pile of yoga mats.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

House Democrats this month said Trump failed to report over 100 gifts from foreign leaders. Listed among the gifts that were missing was a large portrait of Trump from El Salvador's president. He said he had seen the painting in October while attending a golf tournament at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami, Florida. The Trump National Doral hotel and Trump's post-presidency office did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. The report from House Democrats said, "the Trump Administration's failure to disclose more than one hundred foreign gifts President Trump and his family received raises new questions about whether these and other gifts may have been used by foreign governments to influence US policy under President Trump."

☆ El Salvador Congress extends year-long anti-gang crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN SALVADOR, March 16 (Reuters) - El Salvador's Congress passed yet another extension suspending some constitutional rights in the Central American country's year-long fight against gangs late Wednesday. [1/3] Gang members wait to be taken to their cell after 2000 gang members were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center, according to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout distributed to Reuters on March 15, 2023. "We need to keep fighting criminal groups, we need to give assurance to Salvadoran families, for their lives and their property." Since the measure was enacted, extortion cases have dramatically dropped, and El Salvador has gone 215 days without a murder reported, according to the government. El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

☆ Despite constitutional ban, Salvadoran leader heavily favored for reelection, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, March 14 (Reuters) - Nearly 70% of Salvadorans favor popular President Nayib Bukele's bid for a second term, a local newspaper poll showed on Tuesday, despite an explicit constitutional prohibition against serving consecutive terms. In September, Bukele announced he would run for reelection, defying the Central American country's constitution's longstanding ban. The Supreme Court, filled with recently-installed Bukele-backed judges, ruled in 2021 that a consecutive term was allowed, citing Bukele's human right to run. "Salvadorans remain divided on whether the constitution allows immediate re-election," newspaper La Prensa Grafica said in the poll. The poll, conducted in February, showed 68% of the 1,500 respondents supported Bukele's reelection, with 13% against.

☆ El Salvador begins transfers to 'mega prison' amid gang crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/8] A prison agent guards gang members as they are transported to their cells, after 2000 gang members were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center, according to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout distributed to Reuters on February 24, 2023. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via REUTERSSAN SALVADOR, Feb 24 (Reuters) - El Salvador's government moved thousands of suspected gang members to a newly opened "mega prison" on Friday, the latest step in a controversial crackdown on crime that has caused the Central American nation's prison population to soar. "This will be their new home, where they won't be able to do any more harm to the population," President Nayib Bukele wrote on Twitter. Around 2,000 accused gang members were moved to the 40,000-person-capacity prison, considered to be the largest in the Americas, early Friday morning. In a video posted by Bukele, prisoners stripped down to white shorts, with their heads shaved, are seen running through the new prison into cells.

☆ IMF says El Salvador's bitcoin risks have not materialized but 'should be addressed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Brendan O'Boyle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Risks over El Salvador's embrace of bitcoin "have not materialized," but use of the cryptocurrency still requires transparency and attention, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday in a statement after a visit to the Central American country. "Given the legal risks, fiscal fragility and largely speculative nature of crypto markets, the authorities should reconsider their plans to expand government exposures to bitcoin," the IMF said in a statement. El Salvador's move to make bitcoin legal tender in September 2021 effectively closed the doors to IMF financing. El Salvador's Congress last month passed a law regulating the issuance of digital assets by both the state and private entities. The IMF highlighted the "full recovery" of El Salvador's economy to pre-pandemic levels, "driven by the effective government response to the health crisis."

☆ El Salvador opens 40,000-person prison as arrests soar in gang crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A general view shows the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a handout distributed to Reuters on February 1, 2023. The 40,000-capacity Terrorism Confinement Center was inaugurated on Tuesday to help relieve some of the overpopulation in the country's prison system. With nearly two percent of its adult population behind bars, El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate in the world. El Salvador's largest prison, La Esperanza, currently holds 33,000 people despite having a capacity of 10,000. By 2021, El Salvador's prison system had 20 penal centers with a capacity for 30,000 holding 35,976 prisoners.

☆ Miss El Salvador dons golden bitcoin outfit at beauty pageant
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Isabel Woodford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Alejandra Guajardo, Miss Universe El Salvador 2022 poses on stage in an outfit inspired by the country's use of Bitcoin, and previously the colón and cocoa beans as a currency, during the 71st Miss Universe National Costume Show at the Ernst N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. January 11, 2023. Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Miss Universe contestant from El Salvador strutted onto stage this week wearing a bitcoin-inspired gold bodysuit, a glittering tribute to her country becoming the world's first to adopt the crypto-currency as legal tender two years ago. Designed by fellow Salvadoran Francisco Guerrero for the "national costume" stage of the competition, the currency-themed outfit includes a staff topped with a golden bitcoin and a huge colon coin strapped to her back ringed by cacao beans. Guajardo's costume caught the attention of the online Bitcoin community on Thursday, with many pledging their support and rooting for her victory. Reporting by Isabel Woodford; Editing by David Alire Garcia and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ El Salvador Legislators Pass Law Allowing Bitcoin Bond Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Santiago Pérez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

El Salvador’s presidential administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to roll out bitcoin as a national currency. El Salvador’s lawmakers approved legislation to regulate bond sales backed by crypto assets, a measure that aims to raise funds tied to the value of bitcoin and other digital assets, President Nayib Bukele said Wednesday. The Digital Asset Issuance Law was approved with 62 votes in favor and 16 against at the country’s National Assembly. Mr. Bukele’s New Ideas party has a majority in the country’s legislature.

☆ El Salvador passes law for bitcoin-backed 'volcano bonds' and eyes expanding to other cryptocurrencies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

El Salvador passed legislation that would allow issuance of bitcoin-backed "volcano bonds." The move follows El Salvador's previous action that established bitcoin as legal tender. After declaring bitcoin legal tender in late 2021, the Central American country had planned to issue the bonds in March of 2022. The name "volcano bonds" stems from the intended use of the funds raised from the issuance, which would partially be used to support a bitcoin mining industry powered by El Salvador's active volcanoes. El Salvador has bought 2,381 bitcoin through June, according to a Bloomberg tally based Bukele's tweets.

☆ Salvadoran lawmakers pass digital asset issuance law in bitcoin haven
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The purpose of this law is to establish the legal framework that grants legal certainty to transfer operations to any title of digital assets used in public issuance offers," according to the legislation. Public offerings may be made by issuers using existing digital assets, with the opportunity to create new ones through them, the law indicates. The law also establishes the creation of the National Commission for Digital Assets and the Bitcoin Funds Administration Agency, which will be in charge of managing, safeguarding, and investing the funds from public offerings of digital assets carried out by the government. It also would not apply to digital assets that by law are legal tender such as bitcoin, in addition to the video game ecosystem or Non-Fungible Tokens. Nonetheless, President Bukele shared on Twitter a message from the country's bitcoin office saying the law also paves the way for volcano bonds to be issued soon.

☆ The 'world's coolest dictator' rounded up 60,000 people in a supposed crackdown on MS-13. A shrimp farming community is fighting back.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Danielle Mackey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

SISIGUAYO, EL SALVADOR — On the morning that Walber Rodriguez was arrested last May, he was just two minutes from his home in Sisiguayo, El Salvador. Outside El Salvador, Bukele is best known for adopting Bitcoin as a national currency. All around them in Sisiguayo and the surrounding Bajo Lempa valley, people were arrested with no satisfactory explanation. Residents of the Bajo Lempa who'd been touched by the arrests had begun meeting weekly at a nearby retreat center. A meeting of the Bajo Lempa families on June 17, 2022.

☆ The 'world's coolest dictator' rounded up 60,000 people in a crackdown on MS-13. A shrimp farming community is fighting back.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Danielle Mackey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

☆ El Salvador conducts anti-drug military operation on Christmas Eve
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN SALVADOR, Dec 24 (Reuters) - El Salvador started Christmas Eve with a military operation against drug dealers in a San Salvador community, the government said on Saturday, part of the country's controversial attempt to fight criminal gangs. The government deployed 1,000 soldiers and around 130 police officers who have been participating since dawn in an operation in the impoverished Tutunichapa community, President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter. Security forces arrested six suspected criminals in the community in El Salvador's capital, well known for drug dealing and which already faced a military intervention in October 2020. "All terrorists, drug traffickers and gang members will be removed from this community. Honest citizens have nothing to fear and can continue to lead their lives normally," Bukele tweeted.

☆ El Salvador's Congress approves pension system reforms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN SALVADOR, Dec 20 (Reuters) - El Salvador's Congress on Tuesday approved reforms to increase pensions and create a state entity to supervise the retirement income system, despite criticism from experts who argued the measures were insufficient. El Salvador's population is 6.7 million. Congress also endorsed the creation of the Salvadoran Pension Institute, a state entity that will oversee the pension system and private funds. The changes, approved by the congress with a pro-government majority, will take effect in January 2023 for all workers affiliated with the pension system. The pension system in El Salvador has operated privately since 1998.

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