The funds were channeled to private agencies to develop national and international advertising campaigns.
An investigation by the specialized media outlet Infodemia reported that the Nayib Bukele administration allocated at least US$76.6 million over the past seven years to advertising, media consulting, and strategic communication services funded with state resources.
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According to the report, spending on institutional promotion has maintained an upward trend since Bukele took office in 2019, reaching its highest level during his administration in the first seven months of 2026.
The investigation indicates that the funds were channeled to private agencies to develop national and international campaigns, manage social media, purchase advertising space, organize events, and monitor media coverage by public bodies.
The journalists responsible for the analysis reviewed more than 2,150 public procurement processes and identified over 2,000 contracts related to communication and marketing services awarded to hundreds of companies and suppliers.
The report also questions the lack of transparency surrounding these expenditures, noting that the Presidency keeps information related to institutional advertising confidential and that some contracts are not available in public records.
Among the cases examined is Obermet company, historically linked to the Bukele family, which obtained a contract from the Ministry of Health in 2019 for communication services worth more than US$108,000, according to the analyzed documentation.
Lo que pasó en El Salvador pasó en Colombia: falsos positivos y judiciales para decir que estaban ganando la guerra para vender seguridad. Bukele tendrá que dejar en libertad a 45 000 inocentes.@petrogustavo tenía razón, lo de Bukele se va a caer por violación de los DDHH. pic.twitter.com/BRSlqIrQDZ
— U L D A R I C O (@UldaricoRamire) October 17, 2026
The text reads, “What happened in El Salvador happened in Colombia: false positives and judicial setups to claim they were winning the war in order to sell security. Bukele will have to release 45,000 innocents.”
The investigation also recalls that the company has been the “subject of previous scrutiny” for alleged conflicts of interest related to public contracts during the current Salvadoran president’s political career.
Another finding concerns the financing of advertising space in Diario El Salvador, a newspaper that reportedly received more than one million dollars through hundreds of contracts from various state entities.
Infodemia maintains that this newspaper has repeatedly published information deemed false, misleading, or presented out of context by fact-checkers, especially on issues related to public safety and national political activity.
The investigation also identifies contracts awarded to Lared, a company linked to influencer Porfirio Chica, to develop digital communication strategies aimed at promoting programs of state institutions.
The media outlet indicates that some of the agencies that benefited from contracts during the current administration had previously appeared in judicial investigations related to cases of corruption and misappropriation of public funds during previous governments.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez visited El Salvador’s controversial Cecot megaprison to align national security policies with President Nayib Bukele’s militarized model. pic.twitter.com/eCP6g8xfMA
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 20, 2026
teleSUR: JP
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano
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