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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has said his country is to blame for the death of a father and daughter who drowned while trying to reach the US.
Mr Bukele told the BBC his government had to fix the issues that forced people to migrate in the first place.
Mr Bukele, who took office a month ago, promised he would work to make El Salvador a safer and better place.
The bodies of Óscar Martínez and his daughter, who drowned in late June, have been returned home for burial.
A photograph of them lying face down in the water of the Rio Grande shocked the world and reignited the debate about illegal immigration and US President Donald Trump's hardline policies.
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President Bukele said the father and daughter had been fleeing El Salvador, not the United States.
"People don't flee their homes because they want to, people flee their homes because they feel they have to," he told the BBC in the capital, San Salvador.
"Why? Because they don't have a job, because they are being threatened by gangs, because they don't have basic things like water, education, health.
"We can blame any other country but what about our blame? What country did they flee? Did they flee the United States? They fled El Salvador, they fled our country. It is our fault."
Key facts on migration from El Salvador:
- In 2016, 1 in 10 Salvadoreans had no access to drinking water or sanitation service, according to the UN
- Almost one-third of the country lives below the national poverty line
- In 2015, El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world but the latest official data indicates that the rate has been falling since then
- The number of Salvadoreans apprehended at the US border has increased significantly in recent months. In the fiscal year to October 2018 the figure was 31,369. Since then, it has nearly doubled.
Salvadoreans apprehended at the Southwest US bRead More – Source
Media playback is unsupported on your device
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has said his country is to blame for the death of a father and daughter who drowned while trying to reach the US.
Mr Bukele told the BBC his government had to fix the issues that forced people to migrate in the first place.
Mr Bukele, who took office a month ago, promised he would work to make El Salvador a safer and better place.
The bodies of Óscar Martínez and his daughter, who drowned in late June, have been returned home for burial.
A photograph of them lying face down in the water of the Rio Grande shocked the world and reignited the debate about illegal immigration and US President Donald Trump's hardline policies.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
President Bukele said the father and daughter had been fleeing El Salvador, not the United States.
"People don't flee their homes because they want to, people flee their homes because they feel they have to," he told the BBC in the capital, San Salvador.
"Why? Because they don't have a job, because they are being threatened by gangs, because they don't have basic things like water, education, health.
"We can blame any other country but what about our blame? What country did they flee? Did they flee the United States? They fled El Salvador, they fled our country. It is our fault."
Key facts on migration from El Salvador:
- In 2016, 1 in 10 Salvadoreans had no access to drinking water or sanitation service, according to the UN
- Almost one-third of the country lives below the national poverty line
- In 2015, El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world but the latest official data indicates that the rate has been falling since then
- The number of Salvadoreans apprehended at the US border has increased significantly in recent months. In the fiscal year to October 2018 the figure was 31,369. Since then, it has nearly doubled.
