The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, revisited this Saturday an episode that seemed buried in the archives of Latin American politics, but which now takes on a new significance.
In a message posted on X, the leader recalled the moment when Nicolás Maduro publicly mocked him from Cuba, calling him "mequetrefe" and "puppet of imperialism" in a speech delivered in Havana in November 2019.
Bukele's post was not coincidental. The message is accompanied by the Venezuelan flag, a video of Maduro's verbal attack, and an image that has circulated worldwide: the photograph released by Donald Trump in which the Venezuelan leader is seen detained aboard the U.S. assault ship USS Iwo Jima, supposedly en route to the United States to face federal charges.
In the video retrieved by Bukele, Maduro lashes out at his Salvadoran counterpart following El Salvador's decision to expel Venezuelan diplomats. From an anti-imperialist event in Cuba, the Chavista leader asserted that no "maverick" or "puppet of imperialism" would manage to separate the peoples of Venezuela and El Salvador, while receiving applause from the attendees.
More than six years later, the context is radically different. This Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are already on their way to New York to be tried by federal authorities.
According to Trump, both were captured in a military operation in Venezuela and transported to the USS Iwo Jima, from where they would be taken to U.S. soil.
Trump claimed that Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States, use of military-grade weapons, and connections to criminal organizations such as the Tren de Aragua.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that charges were filed in the Southern District of New York and that both Maduro and Flores "will face U.S. justice in U.S. courts."
The memory that Bukele evokes not only points to an old personal grievance but also to a historical turn that shakes the political allies of Castroism in the region.
The post by the Salvadoran president has sparked immediate reactions on social media, where thousands of users have pointed out the irony of the moment and the symbolic weight of seeing someone who mocked from Cuba now facing justice outside of their country.
Filed under:
