A previously undisclosed report by the Inspector General for the U.S. State Department and officials interviewed by ProPublica allege that former Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald D. Johnson protected Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele from American and Salvadoran law enforcement efforts.
According to ProPublica, Bukele in 2020 asked Johnson to remove an American contractor working at the U.S. embassy in El Salvador after Salvadoran authorities intercepted the individual discussing alleged high-level corruption allegations against the head-of-state with an unnamed journalist.
The contractor had been assisting an FBI-led task force investigating suspected secret negotiations between Bukele’s government and MS-13, including prison meetings and alleged exchanges of money and protection for reduced violence and political support, according to the report. Consequently, Johnson initiated an investigation that resulted in the contractor’s dismissal, ProPublica said.
The contractor’s dismissal followed the 2019 creation of the FBI-led, multi-agency Joint Task Force Vulcan, which was tasked with dismantling MS-13. The group’s initial focus was to build cases against gang leaders on racketeering, narcotics, and terrorism charges, according to the news outlet.
But eventually, leads gleaned from informants and wiretaps spurred investigators to examine deals between MS-13 and top Bukele officials, ProPublica said, citing court records.
“Vulcan agents even filed a request with the Treasury Department to canvass U.S. banks for any signs that Bukele and other Salvadoran political figures close to him had laundered U.S. Agency for International Development funds as part of the deal with MS-13,” the news outlet said, adding that “the result of that request is unclear.”
Johnson, who helped raise Bukele’s profile among Republicans and informed a U.S.–El Salvador deal to deport immigrants to a Salvadoran megaprison, is also accused of doing little to advance the extradition to the U.S. of an MS-13 leader considered a potential witness against the Latin American government.
Senior U.S. officials told ProPublica they believed Johnson’s ties to Bukele and the station chief undercut a policy shift pressing El Salvador on corruption and democratic backsliding.
MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, has been a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization since February 2025.
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