A months-long investigation has uncovered a sophisticated conspiracy between the Trump and Bukele administrations to suppress evidence of one of the most shocking political scandals in Central American history: a sitting president’s secret pact with one of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations.
The scheme centers on Vladimir Antonio Arevalo-Chavez, whose name appears on federal terrorism indictments but who may never see trial. Court documents obtained through this investigation reveal that Trump’s Justice Department is abandoning serious charges against the MS-13 leader to facilitate his deportation to El Salvador.
What makes Arevalo-Chavez so dangerous to both governments is his intimate knowledge of meetings that took place in Salvadoran prisons in 2019. As a member of MS-13’s “Ranfla Nacional” – their governing board – he participated in negotiations where President Bukele’s representatives offered the gang a deal that would shock the international community.
The terms were simple but explosive: Bukele’s government would provide MS-13 with money, territory, and the release of imprisoned leaders. In return, the gang would reduce violence to make Bukele look successful and deploy their criminal networks to support his political party in elections.
Sources familiar with the case describe Arevalo-Chavez as a “walking time bomb” whose testimony could destroy Bukele’s carefully crafted image as a tough-on-crime leader. The Justice Department’s court filing makes no attempt to hide the political motivation, citing “sensitive foreign policy considerations” as the reason for dismissal.
The cover-up extends beyond one case. Federal prosecutors have already freed another Ranfla Nacional leader, Cesar Humberto López-Larios, using the same playbook. Both men have been shipped to El Salvador’s Cecot prison, where they’ll remain beyond the reach of American investigators and defense attorneys.
This systematic suppression of evidence represents what experts call an unprecedented corruption of the American justice system in service of foreign political interests.