Uh, Why Is the LLC Behind El Salvador President's Coffee Company Based in Miami?

The LLC behind a coffee brand owned by El Salvador's far-right strongman, Nayib Bukele, appears to be based in Miami.

Last July, the 43-year-old Salvadoran president launched a coffee brand called Bean of Fire, which markets itself as a high-end purveyor sourcing beans from El Salvador. But while its product may originate in Central America (heavy on the may), the company appears to be registered to a Miami-based LLC.

Contact information on Bean of Fire's website lists Hacienda Dorada LLC, which is located at 1845 Northwest 112th Avenue in Miami.

According to state public records, the LLC (created in February 2024, months before Bukele unveiled Bean of Fire to the public) is registered to a warehouse in west Doral, near the edge of the Everglades and about a 15-minute drive from Miami International Airport. Records also show that FastForward Company LLC, a Miami-based firm that helps people register LLCs in the U.S., was responsible for registering Bukele's business on U.S. soil.

So, why is the LLC behind Bukele's coffee company based in Miami?

According to the Central American news outlet Divergentes, Bean of Fire aimed to sell its products on Amazon in the United States — the longtime leading importer of Salvadoran coffee worldwide. The Miami-based LLC is listed as the manufacturer on Bean of Fire's storefront on Amazon's U.S. site.

Bean of Fire did not respond to New Times' request for comment.

While the primary purpose of an LLC is to protect the owners' assets from debt collection and lawsuits, LLCs also enjoy certain tax advantages like tax-deductible expenses.

Also, LLCs themselves don't pay federal income taxes on business income. Instead, individual members of the LLC must pay federal income tax earned from the LLC via their own tax returns, which is how LLCs avoid double taxation (AKA taxation at both the federal and individual levels).

At the time of its launch, Bukele claimed the coffee venture had "nothing to do with politics; it's been my passion project for the last year." He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the business model behind the coffee brand is designed to have U.S. consumers essentially subsidize a coffee giveaway program supporting business owners in El Salvador.

"So basically, the coffee you pay for in the U.S. is free in El Salvador," Bukele wrote. "And we're adding one new small business every day. Buy some, so we don't go broke too fast."

Bean of Fire's website sells one-pound bags of coffee beans for upwards of $50 and offers U.S.-wide shipping. According to the site, its coffee grows on "some of the most fertile, mineral-rich soil in the world."

Bukele, a former publicist and self-described "world's coolest dictator," has been a key ally to President Donald Trump as he's ramped up deportations to El Salvador's notorious prison, known as CECOT. The Trump administration is forking over $6 million to the Salvadoran government to house migrants there. Hundreds of men have been sent to the prison, despite documents showing that most appear to have no criminal record.

On Monday, during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, Bukele said he wouldn't return Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Justice Department admitted it had mistakenly deported to his country.

"How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?" Bukele said. "Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous."

As previously reported by New Times, one of the migrants sent to CECOT with little or no due process was Luis Carlos José Marcano Silva, a 26-year-old Venezuelan barber who was living in Tampa and likely targeted by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because of a crown tattoo on his chest.