Secretary of State Marco Rubio made El Salvador the second stop on his inaugural trip to Central America as the United States’ top diplomat. There he met with President Nayib Bukele, a fast friend of the U.S.
During his trip, Secretary Rubio remarked on the measures that President Bukele took to restore safety and security to the Salvadoran people.
“But we have seen the transformation under the leadership of this administration here and President Bukele. A country that was once known for violence and for the inability to live openly and freely with one’s family and enjoy life has now become one of the most secure in the hemisphere thanks to his leadership, to the difficult decisions that had to be made.”
Secretary Rubio signed a memorandum of understanding with El Salvador on civil nuclear energy, which will ensure reliable and efficient electric energy for El Salvador’s economic development.
“For the technologies like nuclear energy that will allow you to power a 21st century economy that will allow this to be the home of every advanced technology and industry of this new era, so that the people – the young people of this country and all people of this country – will be able to live not just in peace but in prosperity, raise their families here, and give their children the chance at a life even better than their own.”
“In an act of extraordinary friendship to our country, knowing the challenges we face,” with regard to violent illegal aliens, President Bukele, “has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” said Secretary Rubio.
“First, obviously, he continues with full cooperation on the returning of Salvadorans who find themselves illegally in the United States and welcome them back home, and that’s already existing and that will continue. But second, he has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, and house them in his jails. And third, he has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents.”
“We are just profoundly grateful,” said Secretary Rubio. “[I]t’s just one more sign of what an incredible friend we have here in President Bukele and the people of El Salvador.”
