Sources: Cristosal and Reuters
Read more at https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-rights-group-flees-bukeles-deepening-crackdown-2025-07-17/
Watch the one-hour Cristosal webinar (This Moment in El Salvador: Cristosal Suspends Operations in El Salvador, July 22 2025) with director Noah Bullock and other human rights leaders here .
After 25 years in El Salvador, Cristosal has been forced to suspend operations in El Salvador in response to escalating attacks on human rights defenders, the authoritarian Foreign Agents Law, and the collapse of judicial independence. Our work now continues from our Guatemala and Honduras offices.
Since sharing the news of our strategic withdrawal from El Salvador, we’ve been deeply moved by the outpouring of solidarity. It’s affirmed what we’ve always known: this work isn’t ours alone. It belongs to a community that refuses to look away.
In May, the government charged and detained Cristosal’s anti-corruption and justice directory, Ruth López. The charge? Corruption. A spokesperson for El Salvador's attorney general's office didn't respond to requests for comment about why the case against Lopez is sealed, and whether officials consider her a danger.
Under President Bukele, basic freedoms have disappeared. Civil society is under siege, and the arrest of our colleague Ruth López is part of a broader effort to silence those who dare to speak out. Our team has endured harassment, surveillance, and defamation. Now, we’ve made the difficult decision to protect them by relocating nearly 20 staff to Guatemala and a few others to Honduras. The cost of relocating these staff is $107,000, which includes housing, legal fees, and safe passage.
The human rights group said its decision represents a turning point in Bukele's three-year state of emergency, with many journalists and other rights groups also deeming it unsafe to continue operating there.
A law enacted in May makes it practically impossible for many civil rights organizations with international funding to operate, according to people working at these institutions. Bukele, who was elected president in 2019, devoted a significant portion of his state of the union address last month to criticizing journalists and human rights groups. Bukele said human rights groups receive “millions each year to peddle misery and spread violence.”
At least four human rights groups in addition to Cristosal have withdrawn staff for security reasons. Since May, about 60 lawyers and human rights activists have fled, according to Salvadoran human rights lawyer Ingrid Escobar, who left the country after what she described as a campaign of police harassment. At least 40 journalists have also left since May due to police harassment, surveillance and fear of imminent arrest, according to the Association of Journalists of El Salvador.
"When it became clear that the government was prepared to persecute us criminally and that there is no possibility of defense or impartial trial, that makes it unviable to take those risks anymore," said Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal, who spoke to Reuters from Guatemala.
Despite international criticism, Bukele remains extremely popular with President Trump and with the people in El Salvador, with a nearly 85% approval rating, according to a survey released in June by the Jesuit Central American University (UCA). Last April, during Bukele's visit to the White House, Trump said Bukele is “one hell of a president” and “doing incredibly for your country.” But there are signs of unease: Nearly 60% of those surveyed in El Salvador said it is very likely a person or institution could suffer negative consequences for expressing criticism of the president or government.
This is a defining moment for Cristosal and for human rights in El Salvador. Gifts to Cristosal help protect lives and sustain work that matters. We ask our supporters to stand with us as an act of resistance against authoritarian control and the abuse of power.
supportcristosal@cristosal.org
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