"They’re asking me for you to tell us what proof of your loyalty you can give us"

Audio recordings, screenshots, and a gang leader’s testimony reveal that the Bukele administration was willing to pay over one million dollars to a Mexican drug cartel and the 18th Street gang if they helped rearrest MS-13 leader “Crook” in time for the 2024 elections. One of the highest Salvadoran police officials negotiated for ten months with a fugitive gang leader who was at the same time in contact with U.S. authorities.