Federal Register published certification of El Salvador
May 27, 2020
As required by U.S. law, and as a result of its evaluations, the U.S. Department of State sent a recommendation to Congress to certify that El Salvador, and other partner countries in Central America, can continue to receive assistance from the US government.
When the U.S. started this annual certification process, Congress defined 16 specific criteria to be evaluated. However, these were consolidated in 9. The process takes into account the country’s actions with respect to the current criteria as established by the United States Congress. These criteria include combating corruption and impunity; implementing reforms, policies, and programs to increase transparency and strengthen public institutions; protecting the rights of civil society, opposition political parties, and the independence of the media; providing effective and accountable law enforcement and security for its citizens, and upholding due process of law; implementing policies to reduce poverty and promote equitable economic growth and opportunity; supporting the independence of the judiciary and of electoral institutions; improving border security; combating human smuggling and trafficking and countering the activities of criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and transnational criminal organizations; and informing its citizens of the dangers of the journey to the southwest border of the United States.
As a result of an analysis of actions and challenges related to these criteria, the Department of State certified that, despite some existing challenges, in a general sense, El Salvador met the certification criteria.
The Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020 certification can be found at the following links:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-05-27/pdf/2020-11379.pdf
