El Salvador Seeks Stronger Relations with China as U.S. Influence Wanes

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele gestures as he speaks to supporters outside the Legislative Assembly in San Salvador on Feb. 9, 2020. MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - During the final days of 2021, the populist president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, began reaching out to China as an economic life raft while foreign policy in the small Central American nation underwent a subtle, but important shift.

Primary among those changes was a noticeable cooling trend developing with the United States.

Historically, El Salvador has had a strong relationship with Washington. Though last November, the resignation of the top U.S. diplomat in El Salvador, Jean Manes, ended up being an unintentional harbinger of worse things to come. The U.S. Department of the Treasury in December slapped financial sanctions on three senior Salvadoran officials, all of whom have close personal ties to Bukele.

In addition to a growing economic reliance on China and a tense period in relations with the U.S., some of Bukele’s authoritarian maneuvers have also created concern within the international community.

Gang members are secured during a police operation at Izalco jail during a 24-hour lockdown ordered by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in Izalco, El Salvador, photograph released to Reuters by the El Salvador Presidency on April 25, 2020. El Salvador Presidency/Handout via Reuters

Seeking Solutions in the East

“China is looking for two fundamental things in Central America: to displace Taiwan, and to occupy spaces of interest to the United States. With El Salvador, it achieved both,” Latin America political analyst Douglas Farah explained.

El Salvador broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2018 under former President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, which quickly turned heads in Washington. After Bukele took office in June 2019, he promptly joined the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in September. At present, El Salvador is one of three Central American nations to join the Asian giant’s sprawling trade enterprise, which includes 139 countries participating as members or project supporters.

Farah pointed out that, from an investment perspective, El Salvador has much that piques Chinese interests. Opportunities for mega projects like ports, commercial fishing, and strategic access to Pacific coastal areas in the Mid-Americas, for example.

However, securing investment could prove tricky for Bukele, despite the friendly interactions in January with China’s ambassador to El Salvador, Ou Jianhong.

Economic turmoil is bubbling beneath the surface of the Salvadoran government. On top of economic struggles brought on by the pandemic, Bukele needs to secure a $1.3 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or another investor to make an $800 million Eurobond payment.

A participant stands near a logo of IMF at the International Monetary Fund—World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 12, 2018. Johannes P. Christo/Reuters

Though IMF experts aren’t convinced to write a check just yet, they noted that poverty afflicts 30 percent of the population of El Salvador while the number of new jobs created every year isn’t sufficient to curb this issue. Furthermore, the IMF identified gangs and extortion syndicates as the culprits behind the lack of expansion for most businesses in the country, which limits economic activity to informal markets and depresses any significant output.

Additionally, the institute labeled corruption as one of the primary deterrents for doing business with El Salvador.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

During the chilly resignation of former U.S. diplomat Jean Manes last November, she mentioned that Bukele’s government “is showing no interest” in improving ties between nations.

Manes already knew Bukele when he was elected, so she was sent with the hopes of improving communications between El Salvador and the White House.

“They sent me as a bridge [to El Salvador] and the government has decided not to take it,” Manes said, while adding that the doors to the U.S. were “always open” if and when Bukele’s government wanted to resume more cordial relations.

Shortly after, on Dec. 8, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added El Salvador’s Vice Minister of Justice and Public Security, Osiris Luna Meza, and the chairman of the Social Fabric Reconstruction Unit, Carlos Marroquín Chica, to its Magnitsky Act corruption sanctions list due to reports of meetings with Salvadoran crime syndicates.

In 2020, the aforementioned officials reportedly met with representatives from the criminal organizations Mara Salvatrucha--more commonly known as MS-13--and Barrio 18 to negotiate a reduction in homicides and support for Bukele’s party in exchange for leniency for jailed gang leaders.

Washington officials confirmed the reports in December, which landed Luna and Marroquín on the Magnitsky Act list, blocking their access to the U.S. financial system.

In a second critical blow to Bukele’s administration, his chief of staff, Martha Carolina Recinos, was added to the same list the following day on suspicion of misuse of government funds and pandemic related purchases.

The Salvadoran president rejected the allegations levied against his officials and said the United States would only accept “absolute submission” from its partners in lieu of friendship or bilateral initiatives.

Shortly after, the Salvadoran president announced China’s cooperation in the construction of a new soccer stadium in El Espino with the capacity to hold 50,000 spectators.

“Who’s your friend? The one that gives you a stadium, a library, a convention center, a dock, and a water treatment plant? Or the one that puts you on lists, sanctions you, and finances your opponents?” Bukele said, lashing out at the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

An official in the U.S. State Department told The Epoch Times: “We do not oppose PRC engagement and investment throughout the region. However, we echo long-standing calls from Latin American capitals that PRC actions respect local laws and interests, particularly regarding the human rights of all, including workers, and protections for the environment.”

The State Department representative added that the U.S. government won’t force their partners to choose between them or China.

The “World’s Coolest Dictator”

Just days after Bukele joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the head of state changed the title in his Twitter bio to read “World’s coolest dictator” on Sept. 21 last year. The millennial president played it off as a joke in the wake of media scrutiny, but human rights watchdogs aren’t laughing.

Workers take down a Belt and Road Forum panel outside the venue of the forum in Beijing on April 27, 2019. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

After Bukele’s political party won a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly last February, the president’s allies took aim to quickly remove and replace all judges on the constitutional chamber of El Salvador’s supreme court, along with the nation’s attorney general. Members of the chamber claimed it was an attack on judicial independence that ran counter to the nation’s constitution.

The Salvadoran president has also lashed out at judges and defied rulings from the constitutional chamber over the past year.

Bukele continued with the fast change in appointments, surrounding himself with administrators loyal to his interests, including key human rights and counter-corruption officials.

Responding to White House representatives who questioned some of the swift administrative changes, Bukele replied: “We want to work with you ... but with all due respect, we’re cleaning house ... and that is none of your business.”