LatinNews Daily - 6 May 2025

*El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele has ordered the arrest of five heads of bus companies for failing to heed his order to provide free bus services across the country from 5-11 May in relation to the closure of part of a major highway. The five bus company leaders, Genaro Ramírez, José Alejandro Arriaza, Alexander Sorto, Abel Reina, and Nelson David Moreno, have been arrested for “failing to carry out their duties, denial of assistance and extortion”, according to a brief statement by El Salvador’s police. This follows an order by Bukele on 4 May that all bus fares for a week would be completely free due to construction work that the government was carrying out on the Los Chorros section of the Pan-American highway in La Libertad department. However according to Bukele, many public bus drivers failed to heed the order, which resulted in widespread chaos, despite claims that the government was covering “100% of the income they normally receive per day”. He said that this action constituted “clear sabotage”.

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