EL SALVADOR / CORRUPTION



Marvin Recinos
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Efren Lemus and Gabriela Cáceres
Leer en español

A company administered by two brothers of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Global Motors S.A. de C.V., received 16 checks from Banco Hipotecario, a state-owned bank, totaling $118,143.23 USD. The funds came from the ‘black budget,’ or secret presidential fund, of Bukele’s predecessor, Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014-2019).

The Bukele brothers’ company received the money from two accounts registered to the Presidency of the Republic and the State Intelligence Organism (OIE) between Jan. 27, 2017, and May 13, 2019. During this period, Bukele transitioned from office as mayor of San Salvador (2015-2018) with the FMLN —Sánchez Cerén’s party— and won the February 2019 presidential elections with the GANA party.

A second company, Starlight S.A. de C.V., founded by employees of the Bukele family and, at the time, administered by two officials in the current government, received another $420,688 from the black budget of Sánchez Cerén between January 2015 and December 2018. Starlight is the commercial entity that owns the Salvadoran television station TVX.

According to documents obtained by El Faro, President Bukele’s legal secretary Conan Castro informed the Attorney General’s Office in April 2020 that the Presidency of the Republic has no record of contracts or any other documents registering the payments between the Sánchez Cerén administration and the TV station.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202310/el_salvador/27141/company-of-bukeles-brothers-received-118k-in-secret-from-fmln-government

Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Jimmy Alvarado, Gabriel Labrador y Sergio Arauz

After defeating the two opposing political and ideological forces that had ruled El Salvador since the end of the Cold War, Nayib Bukele took office in June 2019. Nearing his 39th birthday, he is the most popular president in the country’s democratic history. He is well-known for his communication skills, conspicuous selfies, confrontations with the other branches of government, surprising success in reducing the country’s murder rate, and his aggressive and controversial management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not as well-known is the reality that he governs with his three younger brothers — Karim Alberto (33), and Yusef Alí and Ibrajim Antonio (30-year-old twins) — who comprise the nucleus of a family clan that teams up with the president in most of his decisions. They’re all sons of father Armando Bukele Kattán, who died in 2015, and mother Olga Marina Ortez. While they don’t officially hold any public office, for the last year they’ve been functioning as if they were essential cabinet ministers.

Although there are 16 appointed ministers, six presidential secretaries and three commissioners, numerous sources consulted by El Faro confirm that the Bukele Ortez brothers are sometimes the only ones involved in important government decisions. They also note that a hierarchy exists even within this small leadership group. The president and Karim are the strategists who define the direction of the presidency. Yusef and Ibrajim are advisors who gather information and have their brother’s ear. Since they don’t have official government positions, none are subject to any laws regulating public employee accountability.



Nayib Bukele’s mother, Olga Ortez, and his brothers Karim, Ibrajim and Yusef (from right to left) at the president’s inauguration on June 1, 2019. Photo available on Karim Bukele’s Facebook page.

During the 20 years that Arena was in power, most major strategic decisions were made by people who represented the country’s greatest fortunes, whether or not they held government positions or were even Arena party members. The decision-makers during the 10 years of FMLN governments were the old high command, the same small group of guerrillas that led the FMLN during the civil war and that signed the 1992 peace agreement (although from 2009 to 2014 during the first FMLN government, decision-making power was held by the Cáceres family, Mecafé and Herbert Saca). Now, 30 years after the end of the war, the most important decision-making core of the presidency is dominated by one family: the Bukele clan.

Just beyond the inner circle, but still under the clan’s control, are the cousins that Nayib grew up with − Xavier Zablah Bukele (the president of Nuevas Ideas) and his brother, Francisco. In the next circle of trust are the president’s private secretary, Ernesto Castro and his wife, Michelle Sol (Minister of Housing), the president’s legal counsel, Conan Castro, and Carolina Recinos, the commissioner for the president’s cabinet. There are also some childhood friends and former schoolmates (Escuela Panamericana) of the president who have been appointed to public office: Federico Anliker (an airplane pilot and president of CEPA), Fernando López Larreynaga (Minister of the Environment), and María Luisa Hayem (Minister of the Economy). President Bukele’s wife, Gabriela Rodríguez, is considered to be in charge of the Secretariat for Social Inclusion and is also its main recruiter.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202006/el_salvador/24542/The-Bukele-Clan-that-Rules-with-Nayib.htm