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United States Cuts Military Aid to El Salvador

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Jennie Miller

The United States is cutting foreign military aid to El Salvador in spite of staunchly pro-American President Nayib Bukele’s intense lobbying in Washington to counter criticism. It has taken his country down an authoritarian path. On Sunday, President Trump’s move was a provision barring access for El Salvador as well as for neighbors Guatemala and Honduras, to a State Department program that finances the purchase of US defense equipment. The ban is part of an initiative by House Democrats to strengthen anti-corruption efforts in Central America. Adam Isacson at the Washington Office on Latin America said, “It basically puts these countries on the same tier as dictatorships and failed states. Only a handful of countries aren’t eligible for this program”.

Point to be noted that Israel, Egypt, and more than a dozen other countries annually receive more than $5.6 billion through the Foreign Military Financing program to fund purchases of US military equipment and services. El Salvador has received about $15 million through the program since 2016, including $1.9 million during the current year. Honduras and Guatemala received such funding in 2018. El Salvador’s ambassador in Washington, Milena Mayorga said she was surprised by the curtailment. She said it goes against decades of close military cooperation between the two countries. It is noteworthy that El Salvador was one of the few Latin American nations to join the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 and the country’s international airport is one of just two in Latin America used by the US military to carry out anti-narcotics missions in the region.

Mayorga said, “It’s of vital importance this decision be reconsidered. Our military will always need to have certain tools to fight insecurity”. Bukele took office in 2019 to rescue El Salvador from the deep divisions left by uncontrolled gang violence and systemic corruption in both right- and left-wing governments that followed the end of a bloody civil war in 1992. He has drawn criticism from Democrats and some Republicans in Washington for strong-armed tactics like his decision last February to surround congress with heavily armed troops to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund the fight against gangs. Mayorga said many of the president’s initiatives, such as inviting the Organization of American States to lead a commission to investigate graft, are in line with anti-corruption concerns in the US Congress.

 
 
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Jennie Miller
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