El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said that China will donate 150,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Central American nation, on top of the 2 million Sinovac jabs his government already purchased.

“I received a letter from President Xi Jinping, where he informs me that he will donate 150,000 vaccines against COVID-19 to our country,” Bukele wrote on Twitter.

The donation will help El Salvador, a country of around 6.5 million people, which began its immunisation campaign with the AstraZeneca vaccine in February.

SAN SALVADOR, March 22 (NNN-TELOESUR) — The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) confirmed the victory of President Nayib Bukele’s party, New Ideas, in the legislative and municipal elections in El Salvador.

With 100 percent of the ballots counted, the TSE confirmed New Ideas won 55 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 116 mayorships.

After these results, Bukele controls almost 45 percent of the mayorships and has only one Assembly seat left to achieve a qualified majority which will be complemented by the 6 Assembly seats and 27 mayorships won by his ally GANA.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Salvadorans went to the polls on Sunday to vote in legislative and municipal elections that could give a broad victory to President Nayib Bukele’s party, consolidating his overhaul of traditional politics.

Opinion polls show that Bukele’s party, New Ideas, could win more than half of the mayoral positions, and enough seats to hold at least a simple majority in Congress.

A two-thirds majority in Congress would let the party appoint high-level government officials, such as the attorney general and five of the 15 Supreme Court justices.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Prosecutors in El Salvador said Monday they have searched two prisons to investigate whether the administration of President Nayib Bukele had negotiated with one of the country’s most powerful gangs to lower the murder rate and win their support in mid-term elections in exchange for prison privileges.

The prosecutors’ office said agents searched two prisons where gang members are held to look for documents or other evidence of the allegations.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — For months, the strictest measures confronting the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America seemed to keep infections in check in El Salvador, but a gradual reopening combined with a political stalemate has seen infections increase nearly fourfold.

Other countries have seen similar surges in infections following a loosening of restrictions, but the standoff between President Nayib Bukele and the Legislative Assembly appears to be compounding the problem as the country’s hospitals near collapse.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador’s president said on Saturday that the nation’s economy could start to re-open on June 16, following weeks of a strict lockdown meant to contain the coronavirus.

The process of bringing back the economy will be gradual and pass through several stages, with the airport not restoring operations until Aug. 6, President Nayib Bukele said.

The leader has imposed some of the toughest measures in the Americas against the pandemic, in which El Salvador has registered 72 deaths and 3,603 infections from the coronavirus.

SAN SALVADOR, March 15 (NNN-Xinhua) — El Salvador’s congress has declared a state of emergency and approved a raft of emergency measures aimed at containing the spread of novel coronavirus.

The measures restrict entry to and exit from the Cental American country for 30 days and allow the authorities to ban public gatherings.

Schools have been suspended across the country over coronavirus concerns.

The congress has given the government legal mechanisms to cope with the grave situation, congressional president Mario Ponce said after Saturday’s vote.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Three police officers in El Salvador will be tried for the murder of a transgender woman who was deported from the United States two years ago after failing to prove her life was at risk in the violent Central American country.

The unidentified police officers face prison sentences of up to 30 years. They all deny the charges.

Camila Diaz, a 29-year-old sex worker who fled from El Salvador following repeated threats on her life from a gang, was killed in early February after she was kidnapped and beaten.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - President Nayib Bukele and a group of soldiers armed with automatic weapons briefly occupied El Salvador’s Congress on Sunday, stepping up a pressure campaign to force lawmakers to back a crime-fighting plan.

Watched by soldiers in full battle uniform, Bukele, 38, sat in the seat reserved for the president of Congress and cupped his hands together to pray, he said, for patience with lawmakers, few of whom turned up at the special session.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — El Salvador has ordered the expulsion of all Venezuelan diplomats from the Central American country, the authorities announced Sunday.

El Salvador recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president until free elections were held in the country, the government said in a statement.

It gives 48 hours to the entire diplomatic corps of the Venezuelan government to leave the country, the statement added.