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288 migrants accused by the Trump administration of belonging to gangs including Tren de Aragua have been shipped to El Salvador under an arrangement between the nations

El Salvador offers to swap US deportees with Venezuela

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has offered Venezuela a trade of 252 Venezuelans deported to his country by the United States for an equal number of political prisoners held by President Nicolas Maduro's regime.

World • 21 Apr

Nayib Bukele told reporters he did not have the power to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US

El Salvador's Bukele won't return wrongly deported man

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said at the White House that he had no plans to return a man mistakenly deported from the United States, suggesting that doing so would be like smuggling a terrorist into the country.

US • 15 Apr

A woman holds a sign reading 'justice they are innocents' during a demonstration in support of Venezuelan migrants sent by the US to a prison in El Salvador

US judge blocks deportation of Venezuelans to El Salvador

Venezuelan migrants targeted by the Trump administration for deportation under a little-used 18th-century law must be allowed to challenge the decision to remove them, a judge has ruled in rejecting the US government's request to set aside a temporary ban on such deportations.

World • 24 Mar

Donald Trump said the plan to send prisoners to El Salvador would be a 'great deterrent'

Trump backs El Salvador offer to take in prisoners

El Salvador's president has offered to jail Americans sent by their own country, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

US • 04 Feb

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele

El Salvador offers to house criminals deported from US

El Salvador's iron-fisted leader has made the extraordinary offer to jail Americans sent by their own country, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

US • 04 Feb

Heavy machinery and emergency personnel work at the scene of the collapse of a drainage underneath a road due to the heavy rains

Thirteen killed as heavy rains hit Central America

Thirteen people have died in flooding and landslides in El Salvador and Guatemala as heavy rains pound Central America, authorities from the two countries said.

World • 18 Jun 24

Nayib Bukele came to power in 2019 trouncing traditional parties with a vow to eliminate gang violence and rejuvenate a stagnant economy

El Salvador's Bukele claims victory in presidential poll

President Nayib Bukele declared himself winner of El Salvador's national elections in a landslide, claiming he captured more than 85% of the vote, even though electoral officials have not released any results.

World • 05 Feb 24

Stampede apparently started after a stadium gate fell, causing people to crowd together

12 killed in El Salvador soccer stadium crush

Twelve people have died in a stampede at an El Salvador stadium where soccer fans had gathered to watch a local tournament, police said.

World • 21 May 23

The prison has capacity for 40,000 prisoners (Pic: @nayibbukele)

El Salvador unveils mega-prison for gang members

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has unveiled what he called the largest prison in the Americas, intended to hold 40,000 suspected gang members, many of them arrested under a state of emergency in his "war" on crime.

World • 01 Feb 23

Police cordon off a crime scene in Colón, La Libertad department, El Salvador

State of emergency approved in El Salvador

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has urged politicians to declare a state of emergency after authorities arrested dozens of gang members over a recent wave of bloodshed.

World • 27 Mar 22

The 400 bitcoins were trading at around $21 million, according to the cryptocurrency exchange app Gemini

Bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador

El Salvador has become the first country in the world to accept bitcoin as legal tender, despite widespread domestic scepticism and international warnings of risks for consumers.

World • 07 Sep 21

HSBC Holdings has initiated legal proceedings against El Salvador for what it called a breach of the nation's investment treaty with the UK

HSBC initiates legal proceedings against El Salvador

HSBC Holdings said the banking group has initiated legal proceedings against El Salvador for what the company called a breach of the nation's investment treaty with the UK.

Business • 19 Aug 21

A Bitcoin ATM at a shopping centre in San Salvador

Bitcoin to become legal tender in El Salvador on Sept 7

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said in a national address that a recently passed law making bitcoin legal tender will take effect on September 7, noting that its use will be optional.

Business • 25 Jun 21

El Salvador is the world's first nation to adopt a cryptocurrency

El Salvador approves law to make bitcoin legal tender

The Congress of El Salvador has approved a law that will classify Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American country, its president said, making it the world's first nation to adopt a cryptocurrency.

World • 09 Jun 21

El Salvador declared a 15-day state of emergency to cope with the effects of the storm

Search for survivors as 18 killed by Storm Amanda

Emergency workers are searching for seven people still missing as El Salvador and its Central American neighbours picked through the destruction after the first named Pacific storm of the year left at least 18 people dead.

World • 01 Jun 20

Municipal police guide the vehicles transporting the bodies of Oscar Martinez and his daughter Valeria

Bodies of drowned Salvadoran migrants returned home

The bodies of a Salvadoran father and his 23-month-old daughter, whose bodies lying face down in the Rio Grande became symbols of the perils of illegal immigration to the United States, were returned to their homeland today.

World • 01 Jul 19

Donald Trump said that the countries had "set up" caravans of migrants in order to export them into the United States

US ending aid to 'Northern Triangle' over migrants

The United States is cutting off aid to the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - known collectively as the "Northern Triangle" - a day after President Donald Trump blasted the countries for sending migrants to the US.

World • 30 Mar 19

Members of the migrant caravan push forward at a gate separating Guatemala from Mexico in Ciudad Tecun Uman, Guatemala

Thousands of migrants in US-bound caravan enter Mexico

Thousands of migrants who are part of a US-bound caravan condemned as unwelcome by US President Donald Trump have begun moving into Mexico, shadowed by hundreds of police en route to the border city of Tapachula.

World • 21 Oct 18

The tapestries of Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI at St Peters Basilica

Slain archbishop Romero and Pope Paul VI become saints

Pope Francis has raised slain Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI to sainthood in a ceremony in Saint Peter's Square attended by tens of thousands of people.

World • 14 Oct 18

Separated migrant families are often held are in cages, such as this one in Texas

Why is the US separating immigrant families?

President Donald Trump has said that the US would not become a "migrant camp" as his administration faced a backlash for its practice of separating the children of illegal immigrants from their parents.

World • 19 Jun 18

Around 400 people have arrived at the Mexican border from Central America hoping to gain asylum in the U.S.

Hundreds of asylum seekers arrive at the Mexican border

Hundreds of people from a Central American migrant caravan rallied today at the U.S.-Mexico border, many preparing to report to U.S. authorities to make asylum claims that may land them in detention centres.

US • 29 Apr 18

A young girl looks on during a protest near the White House over plans to end TPS for Salvadorans

US to end protected status for 200,000 Salvadorans

Some 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001 will next year lose their right to remain in the country.

US • 09 Jan 18

A bridge over a high river due to hard rains in Sabanilla area in Alajuelita, Costa Rica

Tropical storm Nate kills 22 in Central America

Tropical storm Nate has killed at least 22 people in Central America as it pummelled the region with heavy rain while heading for the US Gulf Coast where it could strike as a hurricane this weekend.

News • 06 Oct 17

A man in his boat before Hurricane Otto hit Nicaragua

Earthquake shakes El Salvador and Nicaragua

A Pacific Ocean earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude shook El Salvador and Nicaragua, an hour after a powerful hurricane hit Nicaragua's Caribbean coast.

News • 24 Nov 16

A Health Ministry employee fumigates a home against the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in El Salvador

Travel warning for Irish women over Zika virus

The Department of Foreign Affairs has issued travel advisories for pregnant women involving 19 central and southern American states - following an outbreak of a virus that can lead to birth defects.

News • 22 Jan 16