Bomb plot foiled at El Salvador's presidential inauguration

Police said late Thursday they had arrested seven “veterans” from the Central American country’s 1980-1992 civil war. They included the alleged financier of the plot, Jose Santos Melara, a former lawmaker for the FMLN party founded by former guerrillas.

Construction workers outside the National Palace ahead of the inauguration of El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele for a second term in San Salvador, El Salvador, May 28, 2024. Photo: Reuters

The suspects “were part of the so-called Salvadoran Insurgent Brigade, and their goal was to detonate (explosives) at gas stations, supermarkets and public facilities,” El Salvador police said. On Friday, police posted photos of homemade explosives they said they had seized.

Mr Bukele was expelled from the then-ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in 2017, before being elected President.

President Bukele was re-elected in a landslide in February, on the back of a tough security policy during his first term that has dramatically reduced the murder rate and fundamentally transformed the country of 6.3 million people, once one of the world's most dangerous.

President Bukele said El Salvador was being threatened by "terrorist" gangs, and that those arrested in his crackdown were all members of these gangs.

On Saturday, Mr Bukele will be inaugurated for a second term, something that was constitutionally barred until El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that he could run again.

Hong Hanh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/pha-vo-am-muu-danh-bom-tai-le-nham-chuc-cua-tong-thong-el-salvador-post297690.html