The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador (full documentary) | FRONTLINE (PBS) + El Faro

What was behind Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s deal with President Donald Trump to imprison deportees from the U.S. at CECOT? FRONTLINE and El Faro investigate.

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Three months into President Donald Trump’s second term, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador opened the doors of his country’s notorious prison, CECOT, for deportees the Trump administration had swept up and accused of being gang members. Despite revelations that most of the men had no criminal convictions in the U.S. or proven gang affiliations, as well as concerns about harsh treatment, both presidents touted the move as a win.

In “The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador,” FRONTLINE and reporters from the El Salvador news outlet El Faro investigate what was behind the controversial deal, and what each leader stood to gain.

Through interviews with current and former U.S. officials, reporters and insiders, the documentary shines new light on Bukele’s tangled history with the gangs the U.S. is fighting, why Bukele offered to imprison U.S. deportees, and who he asked be returned to El Salvador from U.S. custody in exchange, in what one reporter calls “a deal within a deal.”

“The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador” is a FRONTLINE Production with Deal 2025 LLC in association with El Faro. The reporters are Carlos Martínez and Óscar Martínez. The co-producers are Pedro Álvarez Gales and Katherine Griwert. The writers are Jeff Arak & Juan Ravell. The producer is Jeff Arak. The director is Juan Ravell. The senior producers are Frank Koughan and Eamonn Matthews. The managing editor of FRONTLINE is Andrew Metz. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

Explore additional reporting on “The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador” on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/the-deal-trump-bukele-gangs-el-salvador/

#Documentary #ElSalvador #UnitedStates #CECOT

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation, and The Fialkow Family Foundation, as part of the Plum Bush Foundation.

Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Corey David Sauer, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

Support for "The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador" is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Prologue
04:33 - Nayib Bukele’s Rise From Mayor to President
10:37 - MS-13, Bukele’s Territorial Control Plan & the U.S. Task Force Vulcan
15:55 - The Bukele Government’s Dealings With El Salvador’s Gangs
25:38 - The Fight Over U.S. Attempts to Extradite MS-13 Gang Leaders
33:01 - El Salvador’s “State of Exception” Emergency Measures and CECOT
42:50 - How Bukele and Trump’s Deal to Imprison U.S. Deportees at CECOT Was Made
50:12 - Salvadoran Journalists for El Faro Living and Reporting in Exile
53:19 - Credits