SAN SALVADOR, April 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump has invited
Salvadoran counterpart Nayib Bukele to the White House, according to a social
media post by the Central American leader.

Bukele has enthusiastically supported the Trump administration's expulsion of
prisoners to El Salvador, winning the admiration of the US president by
accepting deportees to be held in his country's CECOT mega jail complex.

"I would like to invite you to join me at the White House on April 14, 2025,"
read a screenshot of a letter from Trump that Bukele posted on X on
Wednesday.

"Your support of my efforts to combat illegal immigration is greatly
appreciated," Trump wrote.

The Republican also said he wished to talk about how El Salvador and the
United States could "support each other".

And Trump said Bukele's willingness to jail US deportees, who the US
president called "gang members," was "of great importance to our
partnership."

Since coming to power in 2019, Bukele has subdued his once gang-plagued
nation of about six million people.

Dispensing with warrants and due process, he jailed almost two percent of the
population and brought the murder rate down from more than 6,500 a year to
just 114, according to official figures.

Bukele's dramatic videos showing chained and tattooed men roughly escorted
off planes have earned praise from Trump.

Despite the close relationship between the two leaders, El Salvador was not
spared a 10 percent tariff slapped on its exports to the United States by the
Trump administration on Wednesday.