With El Salvador's next presidential elections set to re-elect President Nayib Bukele by overwhelming margins this February 4, a new investigation by the award-winning El Salvadoran news outlet, El Faro, has uncovered secret negotiations in 2023 between the Bukele administration and leaders of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 international criminal gangs.
Polls give Bukele —who managed to convince the country to give him unlimited power to fight crime — over 80 per cent approval and predict a new term. Rivals were unable to match his image as the anti-crime president. His social media mastery and state media amplify his popularity. Bukele warns the opposition would reverse progress, a claim they firmly deny.
Though the country focuses on improved security for now, critics say he has undermined human rights and democracy, and the economy still struggles.
The use of secret gang pacts as a tool for lowering short-term homicides while deflecting from their pernicious long-term impact casts a concerning light on the controversial Central American president.
Far from being the transformative outsider depicted in Bukele's social media persona, the revelations portray an administration mired in the same murky waters as the reviled political elite it replaced.
The revelations provide alarming new details about the government's conspiracy to illegally release and recapture a high-level MS-13 leader known as "Crook."
According to audio recordings, text messages, and interviews obtained by El Faro, the Bukele administration was willing to pay $1 million to Mexico's fearsome Jalisco New Generation drug cartel to abduct Crook and turn him over to Salvadoran authorities.
The government first enlisted the help of human smugglers before eventually conspiring directly with an exiled leader of the 18th Street gang, Rafael Eduardo J. alias "Rafa", say allegations. Rafa strung along the government in exchange for money and the release of his imprisoned sister before exposing the plot.
The stunning new evidence corroborates previous accusations that Bukele officials have negotiated secret truces with El Salvador's brutal gangs, despite vehement denials. It also sheds new light on the government’s troubling willingness to circumvent laws and make dangerous alliances to protect Bukele politically as elections approach.
Bukele's tough policies have proven popular even as critics decry erosion of rights. El Salvador's murder rate has plunged to among the lowest in the Americas since Bukele took power in 2019. This has bolstered support despite a constitutional prohibition on immediate re-election, and the state of exception that expanded police powers enabling mass arrests without warrants.
Detentions have skyrocketed, with over 2 per cent of adults now imprisoned. Bukele justifies this crackdown as needed to crush brutal gangs. Weary citizens accept curtailed liberties as the price for safety, though some admit limited options
Regional leaders increasingly see Bukele as a model, alarming democrats. His crackdown required systematically eliminating checks on executive power beforehand. Importing Bukele-style security policies risks further democratic backsliding in Latin America already underway.
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The Crook affair
Élmer Canales Rivera, known as Crook, was one of the top leaders of MS-13, the notorious gang formed decades ago by Salvadoran immigrants in US prison and Los Angeles’ streets upon release. Crook had been jailed in El Salvador but was wanted in the U.S. on organized crime and drug charges.
According to El Faro's earlier trailblazing reporting on the case, Crook was secretly released from prison sometime in late 2021 as part of non-aggression pacts negotiated between the Bukele administration and El Salvador's main gangs MS-13, Barrio 18 Sureños, and Barrio 18 Revolucionarios.
The controversial truce deals involved government concessions to gangs like cash payments and benefits for jailed leaders in exchange for a reduction in homicides, according to evidence disclosed by US prosecutors. Bukele officials have denied agreeing to any kind of organized truce.
After being freed, Crook was escorted to Guatemala but eventually arrested by Mexican immigration agents in November 2022. His surprise capture was a live grenade that threatened to blow up Bukele’s denials since Crook could potentially implicate Bukele officials for releasing him.
The success of Bukele's crackdown diverges from past failed policies in Latin America due to a 2019 covert preliminary pact with gangs. This agreement established norms against retaliation that left gangs unprepared when Bukele later declared war. The pact also concentrated power with imprisoned leaders, allowing their removal to paralyze groups.
Taking dealings with gangs to a whole new level, El Faro’s latest bombshell investigation reveals the extraordinary lengths the Bukele government was willing to go to get Crook back under its control, including attempting to enlist Mexico’s most dangerous cartel to re-capture and return him.
Conspiring with human smugglers
According to El Faro, the government’s conspiracy to recover Crook started sometime in early 2023, when the administration contacted known human traffickers operating in El Salvador and Guatemala and asked for their help finding the fugitive gang leader.
Among those enlisted was Kevin Genovés, a longtime smuggler who told his childhood friend Rafa about his meetings with Salvadoran police. Rafa was a former non-imprisoned representative of the Barrio 18 Sureños during El Salvador's infamous 2012-2014 gang truce and had insider knowledge of the new Bukele deals.
Genovés claimed the Bukele officials tried to get another notorious trafficker named Chicho involved despite the fact he was supposedly already in prison. Also taking part, according to Genovés, was Jorge Vega Knight, an alleged money launderer with suspected MS-13 ties who was acquitted of charges after Bukele's attorney general took office.
The choice to recruit human smugglers underscored the government's belief that Crook was likely hiding somewhere in Mexico after fleeing Guatemala. But the traffickers failed to locate Crook, eventually leading to more extreme measures.
Conspiring with gangs
What follows are details uncovered by El Faro.
With the coyotes hitting dead ends, Rafa decided to contact the government himself and offer to help locate Crook in exchange for money and his imprisoned sister's release. Rafa had fled El Salvador for another country in Central America but his sister was locked up as part of Bukele's mass arrests of suspected gang associates under an emergency decree.
Rafa began negotiating with the head of the police's Elite Division against Organized Crime, Raúl Eduardo Reyes Escuintla, who used the codename "Iván." Rafa recorded one of their phone calls in March 2023, obtained by El Faro, in which Iván agreed to secure the release of Rafa's sister as a gesture of good faith.
Iván also offered Rafa cash for travel expenses, telling him "we're giving you your family member, we're giving you mobility," El Faro reported. Most shockingly, the Bukele government official suggested Rafa provide guns or murder a gang turncoat to prove his loyalty.
Within weeks, Rafa's sister was secretly transferred from prison to a safe house before being formally released from custody under questionable legal circumstances. A police sergeant known as "Roger" was assigned to monitor her after the release.
Throughout the talks, Iván assured Rafa he was acting under orders from superiors he referred cryptically to as el patrón (the boss) or el hombre (the man). Rafa told El Faro he believed this could mean the police director, security minister, or even Bukele himself.
Conspiring with the cartel
With his sister now free, Rafa informed Iván that he had contacts within Mexico's ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) who could capture Crook for the right price, follows El Faro’s meticulous reporting. The CJNG has waged bloody turf wars with other traffickers that have left tens of thousands dead.
Rafa said the CJNG wanted $1 million, the Barrio 18 Sureños deserved a $250,000 cut, and he personally should get $50,000. Escuintla responded they had a deal and wanted to know how soon Crook could be apprehended.
Throughout their talks, Iván shared Crook's suspected locations with Rafa after he was seen in cities like Chiapas and Guadalajara. Rafa in turn strung Escuintla along, pretending the cartel had agreed to grab Crook while making excuses about the difficulty of tracking him down.
"Don’t sweat it. I just have to set the stage right and build the right trust,” Rafa told the police official in one recorded call. “You feel me?”
In reality, Rafa's tales about his coordination with the cartel were a total fabrication, reports El Faro. He had not contacted the CJNG at all or travelled to Mexico as claimed.
Rafa told El Faro he scammed the government to get his imprisoned sister released while exposing the administration's deceitful efforts.
Government denials and retaliation
When contacted by El Faro for comment about the secret negotiations with Rafa, Escuintla acknowledged his identity but refused to discuss the operation before hanging up. Other top police officials also dodged questions about the conspiracy.
Bukele's presidency, known for its sophisticated social media image, did not respond to El Faro's requests for reaction about the latest revelations. Such silence has become a customary response amid repeated allegations of corruption and authoritarian abuses by the administration.
In the past, Bukele has utilized more aggressive means to discredit or intimidate those who would expose his government’s unlawful deals with gangs.
When El Faro first broke the story in 2020 about Bukele officials engaging in negotiations with jailed gang leaders, administration allies moved to remove and replace the attorney general with someone more politically allied with Bukele before any investigation could seriously begin.
Another trafficker involved in the Crook conspiracy, Genovés, was arrested by police shortly after going public about his role. Rafa has reportedly sought protection from US authorities after helping expose the Bukele administration's lengthy history of shady gang dealings.
Recent revelations in context
The new revelations uncovered by El Faro represent just the latest in a series of mounting allegations that Bukele officials have made secret concessions to Salvadoran gangs in ways that likely violate laws against illicit association.
The accusations serve to confirm longstanding suspicions that the dramatic short-term drop in homicides claimed as a foremost achievement by Bukele relies on a fragile quid pro quo with criminally violent groups.
Observers have noted that the murder rate has begun rising again, gang extortion continues terrorizing communities, and mass imprisonment under the emergency decree has so far failed to meaningfully weaken the powerful gang structures.
Bukele's first allegations of a gang truce surfaced in August 2020, when El Faro revealed the government had provided benefits to jailed MS-13 and Barrio 18 leaders to lower killings while denying any direct negotiations.
US federal prosecutors have since backed up those reports, filing charges that Bukele officials gave millions in public money, political favours, and government privileges to imprisoned gang bosses like access to prostitutes.
Authorities say the gangs agreed to order lower street violence and support Bukele's party in elections. Bukele has adamantly rejected the accusations as a conspiracy theory invented by his opponents, lashing out regularly on X at those who question his firm public stance against negotiating with criminals.
Yet the revelations now unearthed about the clandestine effort to recapture Crook using smugglers and cartels seem to align with earlier reported methods of deal-making.
The Crook conspiracy also resembles suspected gang truces orchestrated by previous administrations, underscoring the continuity of shady state dealings that often transcend ideologies and parties.
Most notoriously, a 2012-14 pact between the Funes government and gangs temporarily lowered murders before unravelling dramatically. Rafa was one of the main non-jailed gang representatives who participated in those past negotiations.
Critics fear that recent truce allegations, which Bukele officials continue to deny, mean extortionate gang rule remains unchanged in marginalized neighbourhoods most impacted by violence.
Crackdowns on criminal groups often backfire by inadvertently making them stronger. Heavy-handed policies give gangs incentive to push back violently and pressure the state into retreating. This frequently leads them to expand ranks, diversify revenue streams, and build alliances. The result is increased violence and more resilient organized crime, which is why most crackdowns fail to restore order.
Bukele avoided this counterproductive dynamic through preliminary coordination with imprisoned gang bosses.
However, the Crook Affair in particular demonstrates the administration's preoccupation with image over real security leading up to the upcoming vote.
Rafa suggested officials were highly anxious not to have Crook implicate them from US custody. The government's drive to pay off cartels and release an accused gang leader's sister expose an administration willing to go to extraordinary and likely illegal lengths to cover its tracks.
The supreme irony is that Bukele sailed to power on public frustrations with corrupt deals between politicians and armed groups. But Rafa's scam revealed the government's unchanged appetite for shady transactions and disposable criminal alliances, even with the country’s most dangerous gangs.
The Bukele backstory
The first note of Bukele by many in the international community was that of a dynamic millennial with trendy aesthetic that features a meticulously groomed and well-maintained beard that blends perfectly into a symmetrically chiseled jawline.
The man who would reshape El Salvador and would end up calling himself the “coolest dictator in the world” sailed into the presidency in 2019 as a youthful outsider vowing to sweep away the corruption of old political elites.
With a savvy social media persona and promises of technocratic change, the businessman-turned-politician won over young voters eager for something new in a country battered by poverty, gang violence, and profound distrust of the status quo.
Yet behind the modern image cultivated on platforms like the former Twitter, now X, and TikTok lurked a populist leader exhibiting distinctly autocratic tendencies. As Bukele consolidated power, critics warned he is steadily violating human rights and dismantling the country's fragile democracy just a few decades after its bloody civil war.
Rising to power
Bukele, now 42, was born into one of El Salvador's wealthier families, owners of an empire of companies spanning autos, pharmaceuticals, and advertising. After studying law, he entered the family public relations firm which counted the leftist FMLN party among its clients. The former guerilla group had transitioned into an established political force following the 1992 peace accords ending the civil war.
Bukele soon joined the FMLN himself and embarked on a political career as mayor of small towns before winning the capital San Salvador's top job in 2015. He broke with the party two years later following internal disputes, becoming a vocal critic of the FMLN administration of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.
Styling himself a progressive reformer and savvy technocrat, Bukele formed his own New Ideas party to launch a presidential run. But unable to officially register it in time, he opportunistically joined the small conservative GANA party and managed to clinch the presidency in 2019.
Populist appeal
Bukele swept into office with promises to modernize government and crack down on the endemic corruption that has plagued El Salvador's major political parties. His informal demeanour and social media mastery earned him the nickname, "Latin America's first millennial president."
Unlike dour former leaders, Bukele governs via Twitter, now X, and TikTok, conversing directly with followers and projecting a hip image at odds with the country's rigid hierarchies. He frequently appears in backwards baseball caps, flashy sneakers, and leather jackets.
This disruptive persona resonated with young Salvadorans disillusioned with self-serving traditional politicians. Bukele successfully branded himself as the first president beholden not to special interests but directly to "the people."
He also tapped into profound frustration with spiralling gang violence and promised to take a tougher security approach. The dramatic decline in murders during Bukele's first two years, apparently the result of shadowy deals with gangs, boosted his strongman credentials.
Autocratic methods
The former publicist managed to convince his country that the only way to stop crime was to give him unlimited power.
Bukele's meteoric political rise was enabled by genuine popular support, with his approval rating still hovering around 80 per cent. But critics charge the president's messianic populism masks an accelerating slide into authoritarian rule as he aggressively concentrates power.
After winning the presidency, Bukele indicated no tolerance for institutional checks on his authority. When lawmakers delayed approval of an international loan, he occupied the legislative assembly flanked by soldiers in an ominous display of force.
The president later purged the country's supreme court and replaced the attorney general with a loyalist, dismantling any judicial independence. His Nuevas Ideas party gained overwhelming control of the National Assembly in 2021, effectively neutralizing the legislative branch.
International observers have warned Bukele is steadily eroding El Salvador's constitutional order. The US recently named several top Bukele aides to an anti-corruption list after attacks on judicial independence and civil liberties.
Questionable policies
Alongside his authoritarian moves, some of Bukele's headline policies have proven hollow or dangerously experimental upon closer inspection.
His controversial decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender triggered warnings from economists and the IMF of risks to financial stability. It appears the former publicist pulled off a largely publicity stunt to repair his progressive credibility and attract investment.
Similarly, his harsh emergency anti-gang measures approved after a spike in killings have faced rights criticisms while doing little to address the root drivers of violence and extortion.
Perhaps most concerning are these allegations that Bukele's administration negotiated secret non-aggression pacts with gangs involving government concessions. His former party FMLN also cut such deals with violent groups. Though Bukele denies it, ongoing US prosecutions suggest the accords are real.
Uncertain future
Bukele remains the dominant force in Salvadoran politics, though cracks in his populist veneer have emerged. Last September saw the president's first large anti-government protests over his authoritarianism.
With re-election Bukele's likely aim, observers fear he may take even more extreme steps like manipulating next year's legislative vote. Some warn the one-time reformer could follow the path of neighbouring Honduras’ post-coup ruler Juan Orlando Hernández, jailed in the US on trafficking charges.
For now, Bukele sits atop a shaky one-man regime propped up by populist hype, murky alliances, and co-opted state institutions. The long-term results of such personalistic rule rarely benefit the people it claims to serve. If El Salvador’s young president is serious about democratic progress, his critics say he must restore the checks on power vital for any modern democracy.