RUBIO BETRAYED U.S. INFORMANTS, WASHINGTON POST REPORTS

October 19, 2025

Sources say a secret deal with El Salvador’s Bukele government traded protected witnesses for political favors and deportation optics.

LCCN Staff Report

In March 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio allegedly promised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that Washington would return nine high-ranking members of the MS-13 gang—some of whom were working as U.S. government informants—in exchange for access to El Salvador’s notorious high-security prison and cooperation on a mass-deportation initiative.

According to The Washington Post, Rubio assured Bukele that the United States would terminate existing informant-protection agreements so the gang leaders could be handed over. The revelation has stunned Justice Department officials, who told the paper the deal undermines decades of U.S. commitments to safeguard confidential sources who risk their lives to aid federal investigations.

One senior investigator warned that the move could destroy active cases against MS-13: “If he were returned, the entire case could fall apart.”

The reported agreement was part of a broader effort to strengthen ties with Bukele’s government, whose mass-arrest campaign has drawn global criticism for human-rights abuses. In return for access to the prison and Bukele’s cooperation on deportations, Salvadoran officials allegedly sought the return of witnesses who possessed information about covert dealings between Bukele’s administration and the gang.

Legal experts cited by The Washington Post said betraying informants would damage U.S. credibility for years. “Who would ever trust the word of U.S. law enforcement or prosecutors again?” one source asked.