After observing more than 80 press freedom violations during El Salvador’s presidential election on 4 February, confirming a serious decline in the situation for media and journalists, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and seven other human rights organisations call on the country’s authorities to halt the decline and to establish safeguards for the right to information.

“The many obstacles to the work of journalists observed during the presidential election reflect a serious decline in press freedom in El Salvador. Above all, they reflect the restrictive, intimidating climate imposed under President Nayib Bukele since the start of his first term, which has included denying access to information about the functioning of the government and its decision-making, vilifying journalists, and waging smear campaigns. In this toxic environment, journalists and their sources are increasingly resorting to self-censorship. This cannot go on! Together with partner organisations, we call on the country’s authorities to end these disastrous practices and to provide safeguards for the right to information.”

Artur Romeu, Director of RSF’s Latin America bureau

Following an RSF-supported observation mission during the 4 February presidential election, RSF and seven partner organisations are issuing a joint statement calling on El Salvador’s national authorities, the judiciary and the parliament, to respect and protect press freedom and, in particular, to establish favourable and safe long-term conditions guaranteeing the ability of journalists to work freely. The coalition also urges the international community to adopt a critical and constructive public position on what is happening in El Salvador, and to do its duty to promote human rights.

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Can the Bukele opposition gain control of the legislative branch?

It is December, and Salvadorans are preparing to celebrate one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, Christmas. Usually, during these celebrations, most Salvadorans worry about what to do for the holidays and if they have enough money to survive the month. However, this year, there is an added element that most Salvadorans must contemplate going into 2024: the upcoming presidential and legislative elections.

The elections, scheduled for February 4, are of great importance as they will mark the direction of the country and its political landscape. Salvadorans must decide whether to continue to entrust control of the legislative branch to President Nayib Bukele’s political party and its allies, similar to the last three years, or give it to the opposition. There will be presidential elections on the same day; however, for the country’s presidency, the political landscape is straightforward: polls show Bukele has overwhelming support to secure re-election and govern El Salvador at least until 2029.

Read more about Nayib Bukele’s easy path to a second presidential term in El Salvador. 

Asserting that Bukele will secure re-election is not difficult to forecast due to his consistently high approval and weak political opposition, clearly visible in recent presidential candidate surveys. To date, three surveys on the presidential election have been published – one by Disruptive Magazine of Gavidia University, one by CID Gallup, and the other by UCA University. All surveys show a vote intention gap of over 59% between Bukele and any of his opponents, a gap too big to overcome in less than two months. 

Joel Sanchez, a U.S.-based businessman of the right-wing political party ARENA, holds the second position with a 2.9% average in voting intention. Not that far behind in third position is Manuel Flores of the left-wing political party FMLN; he holds a 2.5% voting intention average. Flores served as the mayor of Quezaltepeque from 2003 to 2012 and later as a deputy in the Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2021.

Legal experts and opposition figures articulate that Bukele’s candidacy is illegal because it violates at least four articles of the constitution. Yes, at least four articles of the Salvadoran constitution prohibit re-election; however, it was a resolution by the Salvadoran Constitutional chamber that allowed Nayib Bukele to register as a presidential candidate. “It is up to the people to decide whether the president should continue or opt for another option,” noted the resolution issued by the constitutional chamber in 2021.

Even Bukele critics understand that he will win re-election, such as the case of Oscar Martinez, editor-in-chief of El Faro online newspaper, a detractor of Bukele and his administration. Martinez told Confidencial the following in an interview:

Despite everything, he [Nayib Bukele] is the most popular president in Latin America, and he will “win” his re-election because he has no counterweights, much less candidates to challenge him for power. The other parties are crushed, not only by their incompetence and corruption. So Bukele will govern for five more years and possibly will feel like governing for more years than that.

With Bukele poised to lead the nation for another five years, Salvadorans must make a crucial decision regarding control of the legislative branch – whether to entrust it to Bukele’s political party and its allies or the opposition.

The legislative branch is the only one that can put checks and balances on Bukele. Should Bukele’s political party and allies retain control of the legislative branch, he will continue to have the authority to pass any legislation of his choosing, as has been the case since May 2021. Legislators supporting Bukele, often referred to as the Cyan Bloc for the color of the New Ideas (Nuevas Ideas) party, have remarked that they were elected to approve any initiative by President Bukele and will continue to do so if re-elected.“The Cyan deputies are ready to continue providing the governance that President Nayib Bukele needs,” stated Deputy Christian Guevara during an event to officially launch the New Ideas political party campaign for the legislative elections.

On the other hand, if the legislative political landscape were to change and Salvadorans gave the opposition control of the legislative branch, the president would have a more challenging time governing. Opposing legislators seeking re-election have made it clear that if they win control of the legislature, they will put control on the Bukele administration.

Opposition deputy Claudia Ortiz of the VAMOS political party wrote on the X social platform that control of the legislative assembly is the key. Ortiz is running for re-election.

The post Between democracy and authoritarianism in El Salvador appeared first on IFEX.

Authoritarian regimes have long had a complicated relationship with media and communications technologies. The Unfreedom Monitor is a Global Voices Advox research initiative examining the growing phenomenon of networked or digital authoritarianism. This extract is of the executive summary of the report on El Salvador, from the series of reports to come out of the research under the Unfreedom Monitor. Read the full report here.

When El Salvador ended a civil war (1980–1992) through the Peace Accords between the government and the guerrilla movement in 1992, the United Nations presented the country as an example of peace negotiation and conflict resolution around the world. Since the arrival of President Nayib Bukele to power in 2019, El Salvador is becoming a case study for the emergence of a new form of authoritarianism and populism.

In just three years, Bukele has been able to build a complex political phenomenon that some have called “Bukelism,” which entails a mix of a millennial image, promoting the use of Bitcoin as a legal tender in the country, an anti-corruption and anti-traditional political parties narrative, and rhetoric against the United States’s influence on Salvadoran politics. Bukele has quickly moved to create a new political party, Nuevas Ideas, which controls a large majority of the 84 deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the most important local governments in the country. With this support, Bukele promoted a controversial removal of five magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General in May 2021. Thus, Bukele controls the executive, legislative, and the crucial Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, which just recently re-interpreted the constitution and allowed the possibility of Bukele’s reelection in 2024.

Bukele, who did not finish college and worked in the advertising industry before entering politics, has been recognized for his use of social media, especially Twitter, and other platforms to convey a message to his followers. Since he became president, Bukele has used Twitter to communicate orders to public officials, announce the approval of decrees and respond to any event in the country.

This report analyses two major incidents: the disclosure that Pegasus spyware has been used against journalists from independent media outlets and representatives of civil society, and Bukele’s legal advisor’s threats against two women journalists for not revealing anonymous sources included in a news story. The second event represents a trend of online harassment and threats against women journalists promoted by President Bukele and public officials and replicated by Bukele’s supporters, troll centres, and pro-government influencers on social media.

Through the analysis of these two main events, this report attempts to respond to the key research question: What are the main motives for, methods of, and responses to digital authoritarianism in El Salvador? Thus, this research identifies the major characteristics, strategies, and narratives interplaying in the configuration of digital authoritarianism in El Salvador. In conclusion, there is substantive evidence that Bukele and Bukelism are constructing a political project based on populism and authoritarian practices, and within this process, one key objective is to discredit the role of independent journalism, and, using spyware technologies such as Pegasus, to legally establish a monitoring system of critical voices and political opponents.

Consequently, this form of digital authoritarianism not only restricts online and offline freedom of expression in El Salvador but also reflects the dynamics of digital repression and surveillance inspired by other authoritarian regimes around the world.

Read the full report here.

The Unfreedom Monitor

Authoritarian regimes have long had a complicated relationship with media and communications technologies. The Unfreedom Monitor is a Global Voices Advox research initiative examining the growing phenomenon of networked or digital authoritarianism.

Download a PDF of the El Salvador report.

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Women journalists are also at risk

Nayib Bukele took power in 2019 on an anti-corruption campaign, but his presidency has attacked and discredited independent journalists who expose corruption in his government. He has been resistant to giving press conferences, and instead he uses social media, particularly Twitter, to communicate his decisions and issue orders. Bukele’s Twitter account had 4.6 million followers at the time of writing, which is a lot for a country of 6.5 million people. He also uses Twitter to harass journalists and criticise the work of independent media outlets by stigmatising them as “political activists.” He has blocked some citizens, activists, and journalists when he dislikes comments, memes, or questions about his government. In early 2022, reports revealed that at least 36 independent journalists were under surveillance with Pegasus software.

Bukele permanently attacks news media outlets such as El Faro, GatoEncerrado, Revista Factum, and La Prensa Gráfica, for publications that have revealed cases of public corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, clandestine negotiations by his government with gang leaders to reduce homicides and gain political support, and the opacity around the decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. According to a US State Department report cited by a Reuters Special Report, “Bukele’s government uses paid influencer and ‘likely bot farms’ to tweet pro-government messages ‘tens of thousands of times’ on a given topic while masking their origin to ‘create the appearance of authentic grassroots support.”

The president controls the executive and legislative branches of the state, and has removed the Attorney General and five magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Moreover, the new magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, appointed by his political party, approved his participation as a candidate in the 2024 presidential elections even though the Salvadoran Constitution explicitly prohibits reelection. Thus, Bukele is building a populist and authoritarian government that uses propaganda, disinformation campaigns, and online attacks against the press and civil society to consolidate political power and eventually win unconstitutional reelections in 2024.

Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) latest report underlines El Salvador’s 30-position backward jump, which was “one of the steepest declines in the region.” RSF highlighted that Bukele has played a major role in the deterioration of the free press conditions, because of his constant attacks against independent journalists and promoting a narrative against the press in the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) tweeted on January 12, 2022: “Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and other government officials have consistently used anti-press rhetoric to undermine trust in the media and regularly harass independent outlets, individual journalists, and others critical of his administration.”

Online harassment of women journalists

One emblematic case of online harassment of a woman journalist was the story of Mariana Belloso, a Salvadoran journalist and radio host. In June 2019, Belloso used her Twitter account to comment on President Bukele’s plan to curtail criminal gangs. Bukele’s quoted her tweet, saying: “A half-told truth is worse than a thousand lies.” Then, he added in another tweet: “I am increasingly convinced that there are journalists who want our security plan to fail.” Bukele has repeatedly credited his security plan for a decrease in homicides, but investigative reporting has shown that he has negotiated with gangs to reduce murders, which he denies.

After Bukele’s tweets, Belloso received a surge of sexualized threats online and these cyber-attacks spread to Facebook and the comment section of Belloso’s columns at the daily La Prensa Gráfica. Belloso said in an interview that she became known as “the journalist who was attacked by the president and his trolls.” After this incident, Belloso recognized that some of her sources refused to talk to her, and she suspected she was being followed; she even contemplated leaving El Salvador. Belloso added, “[When] the president singles you out and puts you in a place for everyone to attack (…) there is no balance of power.”

Karen Fernández, a Salvadoran journalist with Focos TV, told CPJ in November 2019 that she also became a target after criticising the conditions for prisoners arrested under Bukele’s security plan. Her tweet was quote tweeted by Bukele without adequate context, and, after that, hundreds of Bukele’s followers responded threatening sexual violence and discrediting her work. Since this incident, Fernández said that her perception of risk has changed — she is more wary of threats against her and her family.

Other Salvadoran journalists interviewed by CPJ could not point to any research suggesting that Bukele controls Twitter accounts that threaten journalists, but that his anti-press narrative on the platform is evident. This official anti-press narrative establishes that all investigative journalistic publications are fake and politically motivated to affect Bukele’s image and reputation. Consequently, his message is that people should not pay attention to independent media outlets and only trust in the state-owned media channels and his official communications.

There are several claims about digital attacks and smear campaigns against journalists, particularly women journalists and women human rights defenders. More than 60 civil society organisations denounced the deterioration of human rights conditions in El Salvador and reported at least 370 digital attacks on social media between February to May 2021 perpetrated by public officials or Bukele’s close inner circle.

Edison Lanza, former special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) argued that being publicly undermined by an elected official, as is the case with President Bukele’s tweets against journalists, could be very dangerous. Lanza said in an interview with CPJ that this situation is more critical “particularly in Latin America where violence against journalists and impunity are rampant.”

This environment of stigmatisation and hate speech campaigns, and misogynistic speech against women journalists can lead to physical violence targeting members of certain independent news media. Likewise, this anti-press narrative promoted by Bukele, other public officials, and Bukele’s supporters intends to silence and intimidate critical and independent journalism in El Salvador.

Written by Jose Luis Benitez

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By Jose Luis Benitez

Access Now and the Citizen Lab confirmed that journalists were targeted

Ten months ago, in January 2022, Access Now and the Citizen Lab confirmed that several journalists were targeted with the use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware on a massive scale in El Salvador. At least, the mobile phones of 35 journalists from six media outlets (El Faro, GatoEncerrado, La Prensa Grafica, Revista Digital Disruptiva and El Diario de Hoy) were infected by this spyware between July 2020 and November 2021.

Amnesty International Security Lab reviewed the report and verified forensic evidence on the use of Pegasus spyware against Salvadoran journalists. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said that “the use of Pegasus for the surveillance of communications in El Salvador reveals a new threat to human rights in the country. The authorities must stop any efforts to restrict freedom of expression, and conduct a thorough and impartial investigation to identify those responsible.” But president Nayib Bukele’s government has denied its responsibility and showed not results or signs of a full investigation of this case of espionage.

Since Bukele took power in 2019, there have been several signs that he is heading towards a populist and authoritarian administration. Nowadays, Bukele not only controls the executive branch of the government, but his political party Nuevas Ideas has a large majority in the Legislative Assembly, which illegitimately removed and elected new judges of the Supreme Court and a new Attorney General. The Economist, in a June 2022 article called “Cryptocracy”, highlights about Bukele that “since taking office the ‘world’s coolest dictator,’ as he calls himself, has ruled the country of 6.5 m like a private fief.”

Salvadoran authorities have been accused of several human rights violations against citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and, more recently, for the arrest and torture of thousands of people in the context of what the government called “the war against gangs.” Bukele and other state authorities have publicly expressed their refusal to accept accountability and discredit the work of independent journalists and media outlets. In this context, the use of Pegasus spyware against journalists represents a serious threat to freedom of the press, digital rights, and a key challenge to investigate the configuration of a digital authoritarianism in El Salvador.

After the revelations of the use of Pegasus against 35 journalists in El Salvador, a large coalition of local and international human rights and journalists’ organizations, through a public statement in January 2022, requested Salvadoran authorities stop harassing journalists and human rights defenders, protect freedom of expression, opinion, and the press, and respect the privacy of its citizens. Likewise, these organizations urged an investigation by the Attorney General into Pegasus use in this case. Besides, in February, Cristosal, a local human rights organization, requested the Court of Accounts investigate the probable use of public funds to purchase the Israeli NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also called on Salvadoran authorities “to open an immediate investigation with the aim of identifying and prosecuting those responsible for this far-reaching case of espionage.” Furthermore, RSF appealed to the Israeli government to impose a moratorium on the export of this kind of spyware that can be used to spy on journalists and poses a real problem for democracy around the world. Pegasus spyware, according to digital security experts, can silently infect a person’s mobile phone and get full access to photos, contacts, messages, conversations, and activate the microphone and camera in the infected device.

It is very revealing that the period of hacking the mobile phones of several journalists coincided with the development of several journalistic investigations on President Bukele’s clandestine negotiation with street gangs to reduce homicides and obtain political support, cases of government officials’ corruption, and the authoritarian decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador.

Government accountability

In March 2022, in a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on this Pegasus case of unlawful surveillance practice against journalists and activists in El Salvador, Margarette May Macaulay, one of the IACHR’s commissioners said, “This was a serious attack on democracy and democratic standards (…) one doesn’t wish to keep a list but so many rights were violated.” Additionally, the commissioner Macaulay stressed that “the investigation must be as rigorous as possible and as quickly as possible, [but] there seems to be no urgency from the state.”

In the hearing, the Salvadoran state’s representative, an official from the Attorney General’s Office, denied any knowledge of this illegal use of Pegasus in El Salvador, and said that “an extensive investigation is underway,” and accused the victims of delaying the investigation by failing to share information with the authorities. This accusation was strongly refuted by the journalists attending the hearing.

The Citizen Lab Research Report No. 148, published in January 2022, identified a Pegasus customer, “TOROGOZ,” operating almost exclusively in El Salvador since 2019. This report’s findings established that, “while there is no conclusive technical evidence that TOROGOZ represents the Salvadoran government, the strong country-specific focus of the infections suggests that this is very likely.” However, in a statement to the Reuters news agency, after the publication of the Citizen Lab report, the Salvadoran government denied being an NSO Group client. Until now, the government has not shown willingness to investigate this case of unlawful surveillance against several journalists and be accountable to society for the violations of fundamental digital rights.

Julia Gavarrete, a journalist from the Salvadoran news media outlet El Faro and one of the victims of Pegasus spyware infection, wrote in an opinion article that, “it must be said that in a country where the use of a spying program was confirmed and the authorities, instead of investigating, moved the pieces so that there is now the possibility of criminalizing any critical voice.” Gavarrete underlines the threats and challenges of doing journalism under cyber-surveillance in El Salvador: “With a program like Pegasus, whoever is behind it has access to our activities, our conversations, the information we receive and who shares it with us, and what we are investigating. The climate for journalism is complex, yes, and that is why I want to emphasize that even then we will not stop doing it.”

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Basic rights suspended after spike in homicides

A broad state of emergency adopted in El Salvador in the name of security suspends a range of basic rights, opening the door to abuse, Human Rights Watch said today.

On March 27, 2022, the Legislative Assembly passed a law declaring a “state of emergency” that suspends for 30 days the rights to freedom of association and assembly, and privacy in communications, as well as some due process protections. President Nayib Bukele requested the suspension to address a spike in alleged gang violence. The government followed the vote with a series of announcements that threaten multiple human rights, including to liberty, due process, and to be free from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

“The government of President Bukele should take serious and rights-respecting steps to address heinous gang violence in El Salvador,” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of protecting Salvadorans, this broad state of emergency is a recipe for disaster that puts their rights at risk.”

In recent months, the pro-Bukele majority in the Legislative Assembly has packed the Supreme Court, replaced the attorney general with a Bukele administration ally, and dismissed hundreds of low-level judges and prosecutors. El Salvador has virtually no independent institutions left as a check on executive power, Human Rights Watch said.

The emergency law is based on article 29 of the Salvadoran Constitution, which allows the Legislative Assembly to suspend certain constitutional rights in extreme circumstances, such as a foreign invasion or “serious disturbances of public order.” The 30-day period can be extended once for the same period.

Sixty-two people were killed, seemingly by gangs, on March 26 in El Salvador, the highest daily homicide rate in several years, according to official records. That night and the next morning, Bukele responded by asking the Legislative Assembly to declare a state of emergency and by ordering a lockdown in prisons.

The assembly suspended the constitutional rights to freedom of association and assembly, privacy in communication, the right to be informed about the reason of arrest, to remain silent, and to legal representation, and the requirement to take anyone detained before a judge within 72 hours.

Salvadoran authorities have not detailed what measures they will take in connection with the “state of emergency.” President Bukele tweeted that the measures “will be adopted by the relevant institutions” and “informed only when necessary.” His government and allies in the Legislative Assembly have previously taken other measures to undermine access to official information.

Bukele later said that people could continue studying and attending religious and sport events, “unless you are a gang member or authorities consider you to be suspicious,” without specifying what they would consider “suspicious” behavior or evidence of gang membership.

Bukele also announced “maximum emergency” measures in the country’s prisons, ordering them to keep cells closed 24 hours a day. “Nobody is allowed out, not even to the patio,” he tweeted, while also sending “a message to the gangs” suggesting that the detainees were being punished for the conduct of gang members outside of prison.

On March 28, Bukele tweeted that “We have 16,000 ‘homeboys’ in our power. Aside from the 1,000 arrested these days. We seized everything they had, even their mattresses, we’ve rationed their food, and now they won’t see the sun. STOP KILLING NOW or they will pay too.” He was referring to the 16,000 gang members allegedly in the country’s prisons and more than 1,000 arrests since the recent killings.

Punishing detainees for the actions of people outside prison is a form of collective punishment that violates multiple human rights, and the harsh treatment of detainees described by Bukele may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Human Rights Watch said. Depriving detainees of adequate clothing, light, bedding, access to the outdoors, food, and water is also inconsistent with international standards on the treatment of detainees.

Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado has tweeted that his office is on a “hunt” and the police have reported arresting over 1,400 alleged gang members who they have said were responsible for recent homicides.

The police tweeted photos of dozens of detained people accusing them unequivocally of committing crimes, even before many of them have been taken before a court. The Legislative Assembly has said that the state of emergency allows the police to extend the time limit to take a detainee before a judge so that prosecutors can “collect evidence.”

“The Bukele strategy government seems to be ‘first arrest, then tweet, and investigate later,’” Taraciuk said.

Bukele also tweeted that the police and military forces should “allow agents and soldiers to do their work and defend them from accusations by those who protect gang members.” He also tweeted, “We will be monitoring the judges who favor criminals.” Such messages send a dangerous signal to security forces that they will be shielded from accountability if they engage in abuses, and appear designed to intimidate independent judges, Human Rights Watch said.

The spike in gang violence comes after a substantial decrease in homicide rates during the Bukele government. El Faro, a media outlet, reported in September 2020 that the government had negotiated with gangs to grant members prison privileges in exchange for a commitment to lower the homicide rate and support the president’s political party in the February 2021 legislative elections. In December 2021, the US government accused the Bukele government of carrying out “covert negotiations” with MS-13, the biggest gang in the country, and sanctioned two Salvadoran officials who it said had taken part in the talks.

Bukele denied the allegations and, shortly after the El Faro report, announced an investigation, which he did not support with evidence, against El Faro for alleged “money laundering.” Attorney General Delgado, who took office in May 2021, dismantled a unit that was investigating the alleged negotiations and, months later, his office raided the offices of prosecutors who had conducted the investigations.

International law allows countries to temporarily derogate or suspend some of their human rights obligations in very limited circumstances, which do not appear to apply in this case, Human Rights Watch said.

Under article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which El Salvador has ratified, governments may derogate from some of their obligations under the covenant “in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation.” Derogations should be only those “strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.” The UN Human Rights Committee, which is charged with providing authoritative interpretations of the covenant, has made clear that states of emergency may not be used as a justification to violate peremptory norms of international law, for example through arbitrary deprivations of liberty or by deviating from fundamental fair trial principles.

Similarly, article 27 of the American Convention on Human Rights allows governments to derogate from some obligations in times of “war, public danger, or other emergency that threatens the independence or security,” provided that such measures are strictly required by the emergency and consistent with other obligations under international law.

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the “Nelson Mandela Rules”) provide basic standards for the treatment of prisoners, including minimum requirements with regard to access to the outdoors for exercise, and adequate clothing, food, and bedding. They note that prisoners’ clothing shall not be degrading or humiliating. Several treaties, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Salvadoran authorities should continue providing support to Cuban journalists Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Valdés, and Cuban authorities should cease forcing journalists into exile, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At dawn on January 4, agents from the Cuban National Revolutionary Police and the Political Police took Valdés from his home in Havana, and took Rodríguez from the city’s Combinado del Este Prison, where he had been held since June 2021 for allegedly taking part in a protest, and brought both journalists to the José Martí International Airport, where they forced them to leave the country, according to a Facebook post by Valdés and multiple news reports.

Rodríguez and Valdés, both contributors to the independent digital outlet ADNCuba, flew to El Salvador, where they planned to take a connecting flight to Nicaragua, a country that does not require visas from Cuban nationals; however, at about 9:30 p.m. on January 4, officials at San Salvador’s San Oscar Romero Airport informed the journalists that Nicaragua had denied their entry, according to those sources.

The journalists remained at the airport until about 2 p.m. on January 5, when El Salvador authorities authorized them to enter the country, according to those sources and several tweets by the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners of El Salvador.

“We welcome the decision by Salvadoran authorities to admit Cuban journalists Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Valdés into their country, and provide them with support,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Senior Researcher Ana Cristina Núñez. “While Cuban authorities continue their vicious practice of forcing nationals into exile, including independent journalists, it is imperative for other nations to step up and offer safe harbor.”

The two journalists have been provided with accommodations and food in El Salvador “while humanitarian assistance is provided and their immigration status is resolved,” according to the Migration and Foreigners Directorate’s tweets.

Both Valdés and Rodríguez conducted video reporting for ADNCuba; Valdés aired videos with the “In Search of Truth” program and Rodríguez for the program “The Neighborhood Speaks,” both of which featured reporting on daily issues affecting Cubans’ lives.

Rodríguez and Valdés are also members of the San Isidro Movement, a local freedom of expression and artistic freedom group, according to those news reports.

CPJ emailed the Cuban National Revolutionary Police and the Ministry of the Interior for comment, but did not receive any reply. CPJ also called the Nicaraguan Directorate of Migration and Foreigners for comment, but no one answered.

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Bukele promotes bill to suffocate civil society groups

The government of President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador has proposed a “foreign agents” bill that would severely restrict the work of independent journalists and civil society organizations, Human Rights Watch said today.

The bill, which is currently being discussed in the Legislative Assembly, would require entities and people who receive funding or support from abroad to register as a “foreign agent” with the Interior Ministry and would severely limit the activities in which these organizations can engage. President Bukele’s two-thirds majority in the Assembly has repeatedly taken actions that undermine judicial independence and undercut accountability.

“Since Bukele and his coalition eliminated virtually all institutional checks on his power, nongovernmental institutions and independent media are among the few voices in El Salvador in a position to hold the government to account,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “If this bill is passed, Bukele’s administration will have a legal excuse to intimidate or effectively curtail the operations of independent civil society and media groups.”

The “foreign agents” bill would require any person or entity that “directly or indirectly” receives funding from abroad, as well as those who work under the “control” of people abroad or represent their “interests,” to register as a “foreign agent.” Those that don’t could face fines and a cancelation of their legal status.

The bill also underscores that such people or entities might face “criminal responsibility” for actions that threaten national security or for “other duly proven” actions. The bill would also impose a 40 percent tax on “each financial transaction, disbursement, transfer or any other transaction,” including donations, that organizations considered “foreign agents” receive from abroad.

Under the bill, those registered as “foreign agents” are barred from carrying out “political activities” that aim to alter “public order” or that “endanger or threaten national security or the social and political stability of the country.”

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), both ratified by El Salvador, laws may only limit the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association when necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate goal, such as to protect national security or the rights of others. The proposed bill includes multiple overbroad provisions that are inconsistent with international human rights law and could be easily used to arbitrarily undercut the work of independent civil society and media groups and affect their access to funding, Human Rights Watch said.

The bill follows an announcement by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on November 4, 2021 of  a “five-year, $300 million initiative to empower local organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address the drivers of irregular migration to the US.”

The “foreign agents” bill also follows a series of measures by the Bukele government to intimidate and harass civil society groups, Human Rights Watch said.

On May 18, lawmakers created a commission to investigate the allocation of public funds to non-governmental organizations in what appears to be an effort to intimidate them. The commission, consisting of pro-government lawmakers and allies, has not publicly announced any results, but some of its members have accused nongovernmental organizations of being “corrupt,” without presenting evidence to support their claims.

In September 2020, the Bukele administration announced a criminal investigation against the highly regarded media outlet El Faro, for alleged “money laundering.” The announcement, which the government did not support with evidence, came a few weeks after El Faro reported that President Bukele had negotiated with MS-13, the country’s largest gang, to grant members prison privileges in exchange for a commitment to lower the homicide rate and support the president’s political party in the February 2021 legislative elections.

Human Rights Watch has documented that other countries, such as Russia and Nicaragua, have used similar “foreign agents” laws to silence civil society. The European Parliament has condemned Russia’s law–which is the subject of multiple challenges before the European Court of Human Rights–as a tool to stifle dissent, and the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights has made clear that it violates international norms.

Nicaragua’s bill, passed in October 2020, has provisions similar to those in the Salvadoran bill. It created onerous requirements for nongovernmental groups to register with the Interior Ministry, forcing some to suspend their activities in the country.

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Subsequently, the Legislative Assembly proceeded to directly appoint new persons to occupy these positions, without calling for public competition, in direct violation of the Political Constitution of the country. These irregular appointments were imposed by force by the National Civil Police, who immediately deployed operations to occupy de facto the institutional headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office.

This is in addition to the disregard, both by President Nayib Bukele and the Legislative Assembly controlled by the governing party, of the ruling issued by the Constitutional Chamber, which declared unconstitutional the dismissal of its members, for directly attacking the republican and democratic system of government and the principle of judicial independence.

The aforementioned acts constitute a serious attack on the independence of the Salvadoran justice system, but they also eliminate the main democratic counterweights to political power, concentrated in the governing party. In particular, the illegitimate capture of judicial authorities linked to political power, and the subsequent disappearance of the principle of separation of powers, constitutes a dangerous precedent for democracy in the hemisphere.

We alert the international human rights organizations, and the international and inter-American community of nations about the seriousness of these facts, and we publicly call for the adoption of immediate measures to avoid a scenario of democratic rupture in the country, through the mechanisms provided for in the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

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Salvadoran authorities should make public any details about an alleged money laundering investigation into the El Faro news website, and cease harassing independent media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

In a news conference on September 24, President Nayib Bukele announced that El Faro, an independent news website, was under investigation for money laundering, and accused a number of Salvadoran outlets including El Faro, the Revista Factum and Gato Encerrado news websites, and the La Prensa Gráfica newspaper of lying and “attacking” his government.

El Faro reporter and editor Oscar Martinez, who was awarded CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2016, told CPJ in a phone interview that the outlet has been subject to a tax audit since July, but said that authorities had never informed the website of a money laundering investigation.

Earlier this month CPJ documented a similar case, in which a Salvadoran state-managed media outlet reported, and President Bukele echoed on social media, that InSight Crime journalist Héctor Silva Ávalos was under investigation for money laundering, but also did not provide any proof or official notice.

“President Bukele appears committed to continuing his anti-press rhetoric and spreading rumors in a campaign to damage El Salvador’s independent media,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “President Bukele and the government agencies in his administration should refrain from harassing journalists and must immediately clarify if there is an investigation into El Faro, and, if so, drop it immediately.”

Martinez told CPJ that government tax auditors had requested information that seemed unrelated to El Faro’s taxes, including minutes from the board of directors meeting, which could include discussions of editorial topics and other internal details. On September 11, El Faro’s lawyers presented an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice requesting measures to prevent the Bukele administration from obtaining information unrelated to the outlet’s accounting practices, El Faro reported.

“The president said there was a serious investigation against us for money laundering. It seems like the reason why there has been a group of inspectors in our office for three weeks is that they were trying to build a money laundering case. It’s very curious because the president never said they had found any irregularities,” Martinez said.

CPJ emailed and called the Salvadoran office of the presidency, but did not receive any responses. CPJ emailed the Salvadoran General Directorate of Taxes, within the Ministry of the Treasury, but did not receive any reply.

Since taking office in June 2019, President Bukele and his supporters have repeatedly employed anti-press rhetoric against critical and independent outlets, CPJ has found.

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