Salvador president-elect agrees to pay $50K in slander case

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019 file photo, presidential frontrunner Nayib Bukele listens to a question during an interview, in San Salvador, El Salvador. Bukele, who won the election and is El Salvador’s president-elect, has agreed to pay $50,000 to a former government minister who sued him for slander. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – El Salvador's president-elect has agreed to pay $50,000 to a former government minister who sued him for slander.

Despite initially saying he would not apologize, Bukele later did so before a judge. He said he wants the matter over to focus on preparing to govern — on Monday he travels to Washington to meet with U.S. officials.

Bukele said Thursday that Salvadorans elected him to fix the country's problems, and "if the cost is lowering one's ego and a bit of money, so be it."

Eugenio Chicas sued Bukele in 2017 after he said in a TV interview that Chicas had raped his underage foster daughter and then married her to avoid jail. Chicas had sought $100,000 in damages.

Chicas said he was satisfied Bukele had "finally accepted his responsibility."