Shortly after he began his post in El Salvador, US Ambassador Ronald Johnson formed an unusually close relationship with the country's president.
President Trump appointed Johnson as the country's ambassador in 2019 shortly after the White House declared war against Salvador's infamous, violent gangs, including MS-13.
Johnson's relationship with Salvador President Naive Buquere was close enough to make some officials worried. The two posted photos on social media of their families spending the weekend together, tweeting a tweet highlighting “personal friendship.”
The bond was solid even in 2020, when President Salvador was accused of secretly conspired with local gangs, seven current and former officials said. Johnson defended him and publicly rejected a letter from a US Republican lawmaker.
Afterwards, U.S. Embassy staff were sent home early, investigating the potential government ties with the gangs without any clear reason.
The ambassador's actions appeared to contradict the interests of the Trump administration, claiming three current and former American officials who worked directly with Johnson. He appeared to be focusing on protecting foreign leaders, and officials said they did more than dismantle Salvador criminal organizations operating within and within the United States.
Now Johnson has been tapped again by President Trump. This time I became the US ambassador to Mexico. He was confirmed on Wednesday by a 49-46 Senate vote.
In his email response, Johnson described his relationship with Bucchere as “heart-hearted.”
Johnson also said he is committed to dismantling the Salvador gang. “The dismantling of the vicious MS-13 gangs and other Salvador gangs began during my tenure and continues today under President Trump's guidance,” he said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but apparently Trump is well-supporting Johnson's performance in El Salvador, offering him a new, more important post.
As a veteran military and CIA officer, Johnson had a long career from Latin America to Asia, but his stint in El Salvador from September 2019 to January 2021 was his only diplomatic post.
Mexico is a much bigger challenge and is the US's major trading partner, and Johnson arrives at one of the longest chapters in relations with the US.
Trump threatened to send troops to Mexican territory to destroy the drug cartels of the country his administration recently designated as a terrorist organisation. The Mexican president warns that unilateral American military action is a violation of sovereignty.
Johnson's secret CIA operations experience may be the reason why he was chosen for the ambassador to defend policies he is well-known to.
“His experience as a Green Beret and Veteran CIA officer in Latin America and elsewhere means he knows the issue, and on defense security, particularly counterterrorism.”
However, during his time in El Salvador, two US embassy staff and two American diplomats said that Johnson and his wife were getting too close to Mr. Bukere, but the ambassador warned that they had dispelled those concerns. Johnson even told his colleagues that he was Bukere's eldest son's godfather, according to two former diplomats.
Johnson, upon such warning, denied that he was the godfather of Mr. Bukere's daughter.
Mr. Bukere won the national award just before Johnson left as ambassador.
Cultivating relationships is part of the job of diplomats, but they usually discourage them from building personal connections with the politicians in the country they serve.
“The ambassadors need to have close ties with the head of state, but they need to first make sure they are contributing to the interests of the Americans,” said Central American analyst Eric L. Olson.
Johnson also clashed with staff over his wife, Alina Johnson, in diplomatic affairs, according to three American officials.
According to two US Embassy officials and local businessmen who met them, the ambassador may be introduced at official meetings as his “co-ambassador” as his “co-ambassador”, which will confuse Salvador officials. Johnson also refuses the embassy official translator to have his Cuban-born wife translate for him in return, according to two embassy staff. His wife also told staff at the embassy that she had become heavier in Salvadora's legislative issues with Mr. Bukere, they added.
Johnson denied these claims, saying his wife “knows the role of a spouse” in his reaction to the New York Times.
In 2020, Bukere was accused of secretly conspired with the country's gang by Salvadras media outlet El Faro, agreeing to give perks and better treatment to incarcerated gang members, such as those from prostitutes and mobile phones. Instead, the report said the gangs would reduce murder and give support to Mr Bukere's party in the upcoming election.
Such negotiations violated Salvador's law, categorized gangs as terrorist organizations and banned politicians from negotiating with them. When Bukere became president in 2019, he vowed to be hard on the gang, like his previous leader.
El Faro's investigation challenged Buquer's harsh crime message.
It also attracted the attention of six Republican lawmakers. He wrote a harsh letter to Salvador's president, saying “we are troubled by reports that the Salvadoran government could legalize MS-13.”
Mr. Bukere rejected the letter on national television, a US representative who signed that he “does not represent five or three percent of Congress.” Johnson reflected Bukere and emphasized that the letter was signed by a “small part” of Congress.
Shortly afterwards, the Salvador Attorney General stormed the Prison Bureau and seized hard drives, logbooks and CCTV footage, according to media reports at the time. Pressure was built on Mr. Bukere as it appeared that Salvador and US prosecutors were preparing separate charges to prosecute his government.
That's when an American diplomat investigating allegations of secret dealings with gangs was suddenly sent back to the United States, according to us and Salvador officials.
When he landed in Washington, the diplomats were told that both the Salvadra government and his own boss, Mr Johnson, wanted him out of the country, according to three people who reported the diplomats after his return.
Mark Feiertin, who has worked under several American administrations since the 1990s, said:
At a Senate Committee hearing last month, Johnson said he had been holding an “unauthorized meeting” with journalists, but few details were provided, which has resulted in US officials investigating their relationship with the gang. Johnson denied that it had something to do with the decision, saying it was “deferred by his boss.”
Johnson said in his response to the times he “has never dismissed or professionally punished any US embassy staff.”
However, three of the diplomat bosses were angry that he was sent home early, according to people who spoke to them at the time.
The expulsion of American diplomats is investigating allegations of government conspiracy with gangs, both through the US embassy and Salvador's investigators, American officials said.
Mr Bukere's government then appeared to be hampering the US efforts aimed at dismantling the Salvador gang. According to a Department of Justice detention order reviewed by the Times, the government secretly released the top MS-13 leader from prison in November 2021 despite US extradition requests.
Mr Bukere's government did not answer questions about the story, but previously denied any links to the gang.
Officials wonder why Johnson was such a defender of Bukere.
Some argue that Johnson's judgment was distorted by friendship. Others point to Mr. Bukere's success in lowering the murders of El Salvador. El Salvador was called the world's murder capital before the murders fell 45% between 2019 and 2020.
It also points to Buquere's deal with the first Trump administration, which demands that Central American immigrants passing through El Salvador be evacuated on behalf of the United States, which Johnson signed a few weeks after his arrival. According to two former American officials, the ambassador regularly told embassy staff not to pursue projects that could confuse Mr Bukkere and put the agreement at risk.
It ended when Johnson's ambassador ended in January 2021 and President Biden was sworn in. The following month, Bukere's party won a majority in Congress, considering gang negotiations and quickly disbanded Salvadora's investigative forces. It affected another Department of Justice investigation, according to two former US officials.
Still, in December of that year, the US Treasury approved two senior Salvadoran officials after concluded that it had coordinated a secret agreement with gang leaders.
A few months later, the agreement between the gang and the government appears to have collapsed, leading to the killings in the country's capital, where dozens of people have died.
The government quickly imposed an emergency, which still existed today, mobilizing police and troops to make mass arrests.
Johnson is no longer in public office, but even as Bukere began calling himself the “coolest dictator” in the world, Johnson continued to defend him.
Johnson ratcheted his support during his re-election last year, according to a friend of American officials. This included the enlistment of prominent Republicans like Donald Trump Jr. to attend the inauguration. (Jurists say Mr. Bukere violated his country's constitution by running again).
Last month, the Trump administration sent immigrants to El Salvador as part of a new contract suspected of Venezuela and Salvador gang members at a mega prison in El Salvador. As part of the deal, Bukere is pushing Washington to return the MS-13 leader to El Salvador under US custody, but only one has been sent back so far.
“If the US sends MS-13 leaders back to El Salvador, it will be a disaster for the ongoing Department of Justice to investigate the gangs and the deals they attacked with Bukele's government,” analysts said. “Bukele has every interest in ensuring that their information is not being used in US lawsuits or prosecutions.
Gabriel Labrador contributed a report from San Salvador. Alain Delaquérière contributed to his research.
