The change of official is confirmed a few days after the United States released a list of officials whose visas should be revoked because they were linked to corruption cases.
Pablo Anliker was removed as Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAG) on Wednesday and although the announcement of a new official had not yet been officially made by the presidency’s press secretariat, the former official withdrew his position from his main account on Twitter.
It was until Wednesday evening that President Nayib Bukele confirmed Anliker’s replacement, without giving reasons.
In his place, David Josué Martínez has been appointed as a minister, known only as an economist, and who worked for the Minister of Trade and Investments of the Bukele government.
The change takes place a few days after the list of corpses in Central America, among which several Salvadoran officials would be named.
David Martínez is the new Agriculture Minister. He was sworn in on this day by Conan Castro, Legal Secretary to the Presidency. Non-commercial illustrative photo / twitter.com/Meganoticias19/status/1379894374784507904?s=20
The main findings of the Court’s audit to the Ministry of Agriculture
Anliker was in charge of the institution currently under investigation by both the Attorney General’s Office and the Court of Accounts for irregularities in the purchasing process for the Sanitary Emergency Program (PES) that provides food parcels to the population under the Covid-19- pandemic.
One of the main irregularities found in the Court’s audit so far is the purchase of maize flour with a supplement, the purchase of food products without hygiene data and the zero consumption data of the foreign companies from which it purchased the goods. .
Anliker is also subject to complaints in the Ethics Court for obstructing audits by the Court since last year.
Recently, Bukele also appointed Gustavo Villatoro as the new Security Minister, replacing Rogelio Rivas, who had been in office since Bukele became president on June 1, 2019. The president has not detailed the reason for Rivas’s departure.