This is the transcript of episode 97 of the weekly El Faro English podcast, Central America in Minutes.
GRESSIER, HOST: On Sunday, November 8, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored U.S. support for El Salvador’s weekslong military operation in Haiti. But, he said, El Salvador must coordinate with the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force, or GSF.
RUBIO: We have to make sure that there’s de-confliction going on. What you can’t have is Gang Suppression Force running into Salvadoran soldiers and shooting at each other because they think the other side are gang members.
GRESSIER: Two days later, simmering tensions between Bukele and U.S. diplomats spilled out into public view.
I’m your host, Roman Gressier. On today’s episode: Bukele clashes with U.S. diplomats over Haiti operations. A Guatemalan lawmaker’s murder puts a spotlight on political violence. And Costa Rica’s ruling party pushes a reelection bill tailored to former president Rodrigo Chaves.
From the studios of El Faro English, this is Central America in Minutes.
Diplomatic rift over Haiti
On Tuesday, November 10, U.S. media outlet Axios reported that Haitian gangs attacked a Salvadoran convoy on October 31 and that the U.S. Embassy was struck by gunfire. U.S. Chargé d’Affaires David Howell —the top U.S. diplomat in Haiti— complained the next day to Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé that El Salvador wasn’t coordinating with the GSF.
Howell also reportedly asked the prime minister to temporarily halt Salvadoran operations. The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador accused “Salvadoran small arms fire” of striking the Embassy in Haiti, “nearly hitting U.S. personnel.”
Axios characterized Bukele as “infuriated” by the allegations. El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry issued a counter-note denying that troops had fired on the U.S. Embassy or in the direction of GSF forces from Chad. They also refuted claims that three Salvadoran soldiers had died.
El Salvador began amassing around 2,500 troops in Haiti in mid-October — with the blessing of President Donald Trump but outside the U.N. mandate. The stated objective was to rescue four aviation technicians who disappeared in a gang attack on October 18.
Podcast: El Salvador Operates Outside U.N. Gang Mandate in Haiti
According to Bukele, Salvadoran attack helicopters arrived on October 29. On November 3 and 10, he posted videos on X reporting that the helicopters had struck major gang targets and “repelled” an attack against GSF forces from Chad referenced in the diplomatic notes.
It’s unclear how these attacks were related to the purported rescue objective. Prime Minister Fils-Aimé praised the strike on a gang compound. He said it showed El Salvador’s “commitment” to “the fight against gangs.”
On November 2, Bukele also reposted a video appearing to show soldiers with the lettering “Marina Nacional” —El Salvador’s Navy— with boots on the ground.
The Dominican Republic is publicly providing logistical and intelligence support. President Luis Abinader called for the GSF to “decisively support the Salvadoran military and the attitude of President Bukele.” He said the Salvadoran and Dominican defense ministers speak almost daily.
Bukele has bristled at calls for respect for international law. Echoing his domestic rhetoric against human rights defenders, he wrote on X that his Haiti critics “are nothing more than lobbying firms for criminals and cartels, masquerading as human rights organizations.”
Guatemalan congressman murdered
Now, to Guatemala. Gabriel Labrador reports that Julio César Portillo, a member of Congress, was shot and killed along with three bodyguards on November 6. They were traveling in an armored SUV in the department of Zacapa, in eastern Guatemala.
Portillo, 35, had served in Congress for three years. He represented a department with a long history of drug trafficking. Criminal groups operate in the area, controlling routes to the Honduran border and the Caribbean.
On the floor of Congress in August 2025, Portillo called for a minute of silence for two people murdered in Zacapa. He said he, too, survived an assassination attempt in 2016 in the town of Estanzuela. He accused the police of “doing nothing about it.”
Fourteen months later, he was murdered.
Death of an Anti-Corruption Prosecutor
Over the past six weeks, 18 people have been killed in high-profile attacks in Guatemala. Thirteen took place across Zacapa. Authorities have not officially linked the killings to drug trafficking.
On September 13, William Ramírez, a member of Estanzuela’s town council, was ambushed. On September 27, eight civilians were killed by unidentified assailants in Huité, Zacapa.
On October 11, a former municipal judge was murdered in the department of Escuintla. That same week, Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, a former organized crime prosecutor, was also killed in the Guatemalan capital. The following week, the acting warden of a prison in Escuintla was murdered on the street.
Last year, Guatemala recorded 2,631 homicides, a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 people. This year, by October 30, Guatemala had already recorded just 15 fewer homicides than in all of 2025.
In Zacapa, where Congressman Portillo was killed, the homicide rate is twice the national average, according to the National Economic Research Center, known as CIEN.
On October 30, the U.S. Embassy publicly accused Zacapa Mayor Xiomara Ovalle of “celebrating a lavish ‘narco-quinceañera’ worth millions,” the embassy posted on X.
Mayor Ovalle’s husband was convicted of drug trafficking. He returned to Guatemala in June 2024 after serving his sentence.
According to the Guatemalan digital outlet No-Ficción, Portillo’s murder yet again exposed the state’s inability to confront powerful criminal organizations who appeared to have enough resources to move in, carry out attacks, and disappear.
Costa Rica reelection proposal
Last, to Costa Rica. In late October, the ruling party, Pueblo Soberano, submitted a proposal to the Legislative Assembly to amend the Constitution and allow for the immediate reelection of candidates.
President Laura Fernández has proclaimed herself the leader of a “continuity” movement stemming from the previous government of Rodrigo Chaves, now a top cabinet minister. Her party holds a majority in the Assembly, with 31 out of 57 representatives, but needs seven more votes.
As for whether the bill was written with former president Chaves in mind, ruling party legislator José Miguel Villalobos simply said yes. But the opposition rejected the proposal, saying it seeks to extend Chaves’s immunity for corruption, reports Yuliana Ramazzini.
Re-election was already permitted in Costa Rica, but not for consecutive terms. As in the rest of Central America, modern constitutions amended re-election laws to prevent the kind of authoritarianism that roiled much of the 20th century.
But in recent decades, these laws were unwound in countries such as Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to allow consecutive terms or —in the latter two cases— no term limits at all.
In Costa Rica, the law stipulates that a person must wait eight years before running again for president or vice president. This proposal would eliminate the eight-year waiting period.
Costa Rica has long been perceived as the most stable democracy in Central America. But that’s starting to change. Chaves was close to Bukele and promised to emulate him. Before leaving office, he began building a mega-prison that Fernández just inaugurated.
Very much in Bukele’s style, both Costa Rican presidents have feuded with the judiciary. The president accused the Constitutional Chamber of violating the separation of powers and meddling in legislative affairs, where again, her party holds a majority.
In August, Chaves —in his role as Minister of the Presidency— signed an executive order cutting the judiciary’s budget.
The then-president of the judiciary, Orlando Aguirre, appealed and accused the government of violating judicial autonomy. The cuts remain in dispute, as does Costa Rican democracy.
This episode was written by Roman Gressier, Gabriel Labrador, and Yuliana Ramazzini. Sound design by Omnionn.
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