The Biden administration plans to engage with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to encourage “more constructive behavior” after he removed the country’s leading prosecutor and lawmakers aligned with him voted to remove top judges on the supreme court, a senior White House official told Reuters on Monday.
Echoing the criticism expressed on Sunday by U.S. President Joe Biden’s top aides, the official said of Bukele, who has high poll ratings: “What we have found is that popularity does not give you carte blanche to undermine democratic institutions.”
The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not address a Reuters question of whether El Salvador’s government would face any consequences if such actions continue.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Ted Hesson; Editing by Leslie Adler)
