REPORT: Bukele Made Deal With MS-13 To Get Elected

Mother Jones reports:

Few media organizations have covered the rise of Bukele, as closely or fearlessly, as El Faro, founded in 1998 as the first digital newspaper in Latin America. In 2020, El Faro began publishing a blockbuster investigation that exposed secret negotiations between the Bukele administration and leaders of the MS-13 gang who were imprisoned in El Salvador.

The goal was to reduce violence on the streets and win the gang’s support in mid-term elections in exchange for prison privileges.

Some of the MS-13 leaders were eventually released as part of the deal, according to El Faro’s reporting. It was later discovered that during this period El Faro’s staff was the target of a massive cyber attack with Pegasus spyware. Experts suspected it was a state-sanctioned hack.

Read the full article. There’s much more.

The self-described “coolest dictator” has big secrets to hide, according to one journalist who spoke to Al Letson. https://t.co/3XKdzpJZ58

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) April 15, 2025