Weekly Report - 21 March 2019 (WR-19-11)

President-elect Nayib Bukele chose to give his first official speech since his landslide victory last month at the US conservative think tank Heritage Foundation. Once again signalling a distance from his left-wing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) roots (having broken with the party in 2017) Bukele made his remarks during a tour of the country which also included meetings with top US officials. The trip points to a new chapter in US-El Salvador relations when Bukele takes up the presidency in June. These had come under strain under the current FMLN government led by President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.