16 March – A diplomatic dispute erupted with Mexico after PresidentNayib Bukele accused the Mexican government of "being irresponsible" for allegedly allowing a dozen people with COVID-19 to board a plane bound for El Salvador International Airport. Mexican foreign secretary Marcelo Ebrard responded that "all flights to El Salvador, including the one mentioned by the president [Bukele], have been cancelled" while Mexican deputy health minister Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez denied the charge and claimed the individuals were uninfected.[2][3]
August 16 – Santos Guevara a.k.a. “Comandante Domínguez“, former leader of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is arrested for shooting down a helicopter belonging to the United States military, killing the pilot and wounding two others during the Salvadoran Civil War.[5]
September – After the International Crisis Group suggested that El Salvador's recent decline in homicides may be related to a pact between gangs and the government, Attorney General Raul Melara opens an investigation.[6]
September 11 – 1989 murders of Jesuits: Former colonel and vice minister for public security Inocente Orlando Montano, 77, is convicted in Spain for 133 years for "terrorist assassinations".[7]
September 15 – Independence Day: President Bukele calls for unity and attacks his political opponents in a speech before his Cabinet and the diplomatic corps.[8]
December 15 – The U.S. and El Salvador reach an agreement to return asylum-seekers who reach the southern border of the United States back to El Salvador, where they can seek government protection. Similar agreements have been reached with Honduras and Guatemala, but with such little success that critics refer to the program as “deportation with a layover.” No starting date for the agreement has been given.[9]
December 28 – The U.S. cuts military aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.[10]
Years in El Salvador (1821–present)