Bukele Offers U.S. Help in Fight Against Terrorism and Highlights Security Advances

• Bukele offers US help against terrorism.
• US sends migrants to El Salvador.
• Cecot, center of controversy and abuse allegations.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele told his US counterpart, Donald Trump, during a meeting at the White House on Monday, that the United States is facing a “crime and terrorism problem,” and that his country is willing to help.

“We are eager to assist. We know you have a problem with crime, a problem with terrorism, and you need help. We are a small country, but if we can help, we will,” said the Salvadoran leader.

He also stated it was an honor to be in the Oval Office alongside the “president and leader of the free world.”

This meeting between Trump and Bukele focused on immigration agreements between the two governments.

Bukele’s First Meeting with Trump at the White House and El Salvador’s Security Gains

While Trump had previously hosted other Latin American leaders since the start of his second term in January, this was the first time such a meeting took place at the White House instead of his private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Bukele used the opportunity to boast about his country’s security progress, emphasizing that San Salvador was no longer the “murder capital of the world,” and that El Salvador had become, in his words, the safest country in Latin America.

“Sometimes people say we’ve jailed thousands. I like to say that we’ve actually freed millions,” declared the Salvadoran president.

The meeting comes amid growing tensions surrounding an agreement between El Salvador and the US under which deported migrants would be held in a maximum-security facility called the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot).

El Salvador Receives Payments for Housing Terrorism Suspects

In return, El Salvador would receive up to six million dollars annually.

Cecot has become the subject of controversy due to reports of human rights abuses.

Civil rights organizations have questioned the legality of sending migrants to El Salvador, arguing that some have been subjected to “forced disappearances” and remain isolated from their families, without access to legal counsel.

Recently, the Trump administration has transferred a total of 232 migrants to Cecot, mostly Venezuelans accused of belonging to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua.

However, a Bloomberg analysis revealed that about 90% of the more than 200 men imprisoned in El Salvador have no criminal record in the United States.

You May Also Be Interested In: Migrant Alert! Mandatory Registration and Harsh Penalties Starting April 2025

This agreement is part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which has labeled Tren de Aragua a national security threat.

Washington has invoked a law from 1798—the Alien Enemies Act—to expedite the deportation of suspected members of the criminal organization.

SOURCE: EFE