I think this aspect of Trump's gulag deal with Bukele is really underappreciated ... for all the talk about "cleaning up the gangs" the US government's belief is that he is collaborating with them www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/u... - ThreadSky

adamserwer.bsky.social • 9 days ago

I think this aspect of Trump's gulag deal with Bukele is really underappreciated ... for all the talk about "cleaning up the gangs" the US government's belief is that he is collaborating with them https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/us/politics/trump-deportations-venezuela-el-salvador.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share

Comments

pyperkub.bsky.social•6 days ago

It makes you wonder what's in the fine print for the Rwandan Concentration Camps...

carly911.bsky.social•9 days ago

Donald Trump is a easy target because he doesn’t listen to his aides. Pathetic

brendanamartin.bsky.social•9 days ago

He’s not a “target” or a mark—or at least Stephen Miller isn’t. They don’t care about MS-13, except as a pretext for abducting and disappearing any immigrant in a lawless process that itself terrorizes all immigrants and impels them to emigrate. See Miller’s justification of his family separations.

whodiddoneit.bsky.social•9 days ago

This makes a lot of sense. I wonder why he would risk so much to make these deals with Trump. He’s made similar deals already with the gangs.

csoule.bsky.social•9 days ago

“Cleaning up the gangs” = trump thugs winning the turf war. It’s disheartening how so much in America increasingly gets reduced to nothing more than this.

Been like that and hurtling toward worse everday

jacksonharris.bsky.social•8 days ago

100%. It's Bukele's Iran-Contra. He made a secret deal with MS-13 to reduce crime in El Salvador. These leaders were facing federal prosecution in the US, and may well have squealed, so Trump is sneaking them out of our jurisdiction for Bukele to silence them.

sisbromcdudeho.bsky.social•9 days ago

This does somewhat explain why this laser-like focus on this particular MS-13 out of all the gangs the FBI monitors. Does beg the question of what other similar deals are there and who/what will be the designated bogeyman next.

welshrarebit.bsky.social•8 days ago

Rather than trying to suppress the drug traffickers, it seems far more likely that Trump’s actual goal here is to get a share of the profits.

caffeinehusky.bsky.social•8 days ago

It's vile...

nonfictionnovice.bsky.social•9 days ago

Wow interesting

john-alton.bsky.social•9 days ago

Joke’s on Bukele. Half the guys we send aren’t in a gang.

jobpolak.bsky.social•4 days ago

Nope, but those are mostly Venezuelan, who Bukele plans to trade for “political prisoners” (far right paramilitaries) held in Venezuela.

astrobot101.bsky.social•8 days ago

Maybe we could hire MS-13 to round up our current government and bring them to trial, the first seems better organized than the latter, as well as more compassionate.

donberr.bsky.social•9 days ago

Which is why only TdA members are supposed to be sent??

boxedout.bsky.social•9 days ago

FWIW I’m very close with an El Salvadoran family and they love Bukele. Credit him with turning the country around entirely and feeling 10x safer to travel back to visit family these last years.

It’s a disappointing because Bukele is clearly a monster but this fact must be reckoned with nonetheless.

perfectorb.bsky.social•9 days ago

He’s a dangerously competent fascist

crrrack.bsky.social•8 days ago

I have family in El Salvador and spend time there. It is really hard to overstate the change since Bukele began the Plan Teritorial. People are willing to overlook some very unpopular policies due to the fact that they can freely travel, operate businesses without paying rent to the gangs, etc. 1/

crrrack.bsky.social•8 days ago

That said, I got the sense being there last week that people are unhappy with this collaboration with Trump. The Salvadoran community in the US is extremely important to the in-country population and provides enormous economic support to their families 2/

crrrack.bsky.social•8 days ago

Plus I did get a sense from younger people that they are not happy with Bukele's authoritarian tendencies. Honestly I can't even begin to predict how things will go from here. I think Bukele may have made a tactical mistake by aligning himself so closely with Trump. 3/

crrrack.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is a pretty open secret that Bukele negotiated a deal with the Maras before the mass incarceration plan (as did previous administrations I should add). While he denies it I have a hard time believing that the political fallout of this being confirmed would bring him down. 4/4

boxedout.bsky.social•8 days ago

It’s only a single data point, but the eldest son, who is in the navy, voted for Trump, and I haven’t spoken to him since the election, but I’d be curious to know if he still stands by his vote …

Thanks for your thread

captainahab.bsky.social•9 days ago

There's also a whole Bukele vs Maduro angle that's not being covered in US media at all. Bukele (heavy ties to anti-Maduro factions in VZ) wanted Venezuelans from the US to use as leverage to negotiate with Maduro.

sewercroc.bsky.social•8 days ago

What we also should talk about is the sheer amount of El Salvadoreans who say the gulags were the best thing to ever happen.
People so profoundly vile, they happily replace one gangster run system with another, and when called on it, pull the "hurr durr u arent from here" card.
Vile people.