El Salvador taps new DC lobbyist in pivot to Biden

El Salvador has awarded a $780,000 lobby contract to a three-week old Washington firm set up to promote investment as President Nayib Bukele, a staunch Trump ally, seeks to pivot toward Joe Biden’s $4 billion development plan to stop flow of migration from Central America.

new entity, Invest El Salvador, is third to have registered as a foreign nt of El Salvador since August with contracts totaling more than $1.6 million.

Invest El Salvador will “inform U.S. public, government officials, and media about importance of fostering strong dialogue between U.S. and El Salvador, and promoting direct foreign investment,” according to Department of Justice filings last week. one-year contract, which has t been previously reported, was signed by a Bukele aide on v. 5.

firm’s sole employee and executive director is Brian Dean, a Latin American specialist who led state of Florida’s efforts to expand trade in region when Jeb Bush was goverr. group’s board includes fellow Republican David Metzner, managing partner of ACG Analytics, a political consulting firm in Washington where Dean said he worked until w.

Bukele, 39, took office in 2019 vowing to rescue El Salvador from deep divisions left by uncontrolled gang violence and systemic corruption in both right and left-wing governments that followed end of a bloody civil war in 1992.

While he remain popular at home, he’s drawn criticism from U.S. lawmakers — mostly Democrats but some Republicans as well — for allegedly taking El Salvador down an authoritarian path, especially after he sent heavily armed troops in February to surround congress to pressure lawmakers into approving a loan to fund fight against gangs. His strict lockdown to slow spread of coronavirus has also proven controversial.

Bukele’s office did t respond to requests for comment.

Dean told AP that Bukele considers much of criticism in Washington of his record “irritating” and based on a flawed understanding of his policies.

“I have doubt about his commitment to democracy and rooting out corruption,” Dean said. “ rest is just semantics and color.”

Biden as vice president aggressively pushed a $750 million pack to Central America to attack root causes of migration — a sharp contrast to Trump administration’s hardline policies that Bukele supported by signing a bilateral agreement that would allow U.S. to send asylum seekers from or countries to El Salvador.

As president, Biden has vowed to expand aid to $4 billion, with a focus on mobilizing private investment, strengning rule of law and rooting out corruption.

“Biden’s goals are absolutely in line with what’s going on in El Salvador,” he said.

In August, El Salvador’s state intelligence ncy hired for $75,000 a month Soran Policy Group, a firm run by Robert Stryk, one of best-paid foreign lobbyists under Trump. That was followed in October by a second, similarly sized contract with Rational 360, a firm founded by Patrick Dorton, a former Clinton White House aide.