El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele met with President Javier Milei on Monday at the Casa Rosada, with both facing criticism for human rights violations by international organizations. 

Although this is Bukele’s first visit to Argentina, the two presidents have forged strong bilateral ties. The Milei administration has often shown admiration for the Salvadoran president’s strongman approach to fighting crime, often cited as the source of his electoral popularity but garnering international condemnation as arbitrary detentions number in the thousands.

“It will be a very good meeting, Milei and I are friends. We’re going to talk about energy, trade, and security,” said Bukele before heading to the Casa Rosada, according to C5N. There, he was welcome by a military band before being escorted to the president’s private office.

Milei and Bukele did not give a joint press conference or publish a communiqué following their meeting. They’re set to have dinner together later in the evening before Bukele leaves Buenos Aires on Tuesday.

The two presidents met previously in June for the inauguration of Bukele’s second term — he was resoundingly re-elected in February amid international concerns about human rights and the erosion of democracy in the Central American country.

Over 74,000 people have been arrested since Bukele decreed a “state of emergency” in March 2022 to crack down on gang violence. However, less than a third are estimated to be gang members. An Argentine man has been held incommunicado pretrial detention in El Salvador since 2023: his mother told the Herald last week that she hoped to give Bukele a letter pleading for his release.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also traveled to El Salvador earlier this year. She visited the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center — Bukele’s maximum-security mega-prison, the largest in Latin America. She signed an agreement with her Salvadoran counterpart, Gustavo Villatoro, for joint training between security forces and a bilateral exchange of information and legal instruments. 

International warnings of human rights violations

Earlier this month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released a report examining El Salvador’s state of emergency, stating that it received “numerous reports of human rights violations, including systematic and widespread illegal and arbitrary detentions, unlawful raids on homes, excessive use of force, and violations of the rights of children and adolescents.”

“From Amnesty International, we insist on the urgency of reversing the deterioration of freedom of expression and the tendency to close civic space in Argentina and El Salvador. The strength of institutions and the rule of law must prevail,” said Ana Piquer, director of Amnesty International’s Americas bureau, in a press release published by the human rights watchdog on Monday.

Addressing Monday’s bilateral meeting specifically, Amnesty International highlighted human rights violations spearheaded by Bukele and Milei in both countries, from mass arbitrary detentions in El Salvador to violence against protesters in Argentina.

“We regret the recurring states of emergency that have provoked massive human rights violations in El Salvador, as well as the approval of protocols that restrict the right to demonstrate under the guise of maintaining public order in Argentina,” Piquer continued. “These types of policies translate, in practice, to basic freedoms being violated: very much contrary to what both presidents proclaim.”

Bukele will hold a private meeting with Vice President Victoria Villarruel on Tuesday afternoon and is set to leave Argentina on Tuesday evening.