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ProPublica says it saw secret U.S. documents showing El Salvador’s President Bukele protected gang leaders from U.S. prosecution—and diverted USAID money straight to the gangs his government claimed to be fighting.
According to the report, an international task force investigated USAID money they believed to have been laundered into MS-13. And while Bukele was publicly playing tough on gangs, key suspects that the U.S. wanted for extradition or prosecution disappeared and extradition requests were ignored.
Officials now allege that high-ranking MS-13 figures were quietly released, relocated, or shielded—in exchange for calm on the streets.
So where are those gang leaders? No one knows. They’re gone. Up in smoke.
The story hinges on classified memos, diplomatic cables, and off-the-record sources. But none of that is public. ProPublica says that they have the proof but we don’t see it.
Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s spin. It is convenient that U.S. intelligence has this information on a leader that they’ve openly clashed with but those clashes involved prosecution of bad guys who have in fact disappeared and USAID does have a long history of facilitating drug violence under cover of foreign aid.