Bukele calls on food distributors to stop price “abuses”

President Nayib Bukele warned merchants in El Salvador to stop “abusing” the increases in basic basket products, and threatened to apply the full force of the law to them, as it has done with gangs.

“I am going to make a call like the one we made to the gangs at the beginning of 2019, when we told them to stop killing or don’t complain later. Well, I am going to give a message to the importers, marketers, wholesalers and distributors of food: stop abusing the Salvadoran people or don’t complain later,” the president said on Friday in a national radio and television broadcast.

Accompanied by the government cabinet, Bukele addressed the Salvadorans to talk about the emergencies that the country is experiencing due to the heavy rains in recent days; the red alert due to the increase in dengue cases, which has already claimed the lives of three children, and the problem of the increase in food prices that impacts the poorest.

Bukele said that authorities have identified abuses in the prices of basic products, and acknowledged that they can only apply fines or administrative sanctions. He denounced that merchants are abusing “with the confidence that there is no criminal sanction.”

But he quickly reminded them that they know they have a history of tax evasion, smuggling food, bribing customs agents and other crimes, and that for these cases they can be put in jail.

“And we are not playing around, just in case someone says it is just a threat (a threat without the intention of carrying it out), a show, just a smokescreen, well, they will see if it is just a smokescreen. The gang members also said the same. I expect lower prices tomorrow or they will have problems,” warned the president.

The Consumer Protection Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock revealed that their inspectors have found that some merchants have increased the prices of some products by up to 300%, and said that sanctioning processes have already been initiated, although they noted that this is insufficient to put an end to the abuses.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Oscar Dominguez, announced during the meeting that starting on Saturday they will establish 20 points in strategic areas where producers will sell food at “fair prices.”

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels Youtube, WhatsApp and to newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.