PANAMA CITY, Panama —El Salvador has lost one more human rights group. The country's most prominent human rights group, Cristosal, announced on Thursday that it's being forced to shut down its operations in the Central American country.
The group was founded by Evangelical bishops to address human rights and democratic concerns after the country's civil war. But after 25 years documenting abuses in the country, the organization says escalating threats from the government of President Nayib Bukele – a key Trump administration ally - have made it unsafe for them to operate inside El Salvador. It will now continue its work in exile in neighboring Guatemala and Honduras.
The organization accuses Bukele's government of legal and administrative harassment, espionage, monitoring of their activities as well as defamation campaigns.
Speaking at a press conference in Guatemala on Thursday, the group's executive director, Noah Bullock said "the clear targeting of our organization has made us choose between exile or prison. The Bukele administration has unleashed a wave of repression over the past few months."
A spokesperson for Bukele did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.
The group's decision to suspend its operations in El Salvador comes less than three months after the arrest and imprisonment of human rights activist Ruth López, who leads Cristosal's anti-corruption and justice program. Bullock said her arrest had been a "breaking point" for the organization.
López and the organization have been outspoken critics of Bukele's heavy-handed tactics, including the mass incarceration of suspected gang members under a sweeping state of emergency imposed in 2022.
Cristosal's departure comes amid a recent exodus of Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists. The journalist group, Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador, estimates that at least 40 journalists have been forced to leave the country.
Bukele, who was re-elected last year, claims that the crackdown has made the country much safer, and while it has led to a dramatic reduction in crime, critics say it has also led to the detention of over 85,000 mainly young men and widespread human rights violations.
The president has repeatedly dismissed Cristosal as a foreign-funded political organization. In May, his government passed a "foreign agents" law allowing the authorities to monitor and tax non-governmental organizations (NGO's) with international backing — a move widely seen as targeting critics and echoing crackdowns in China, Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Bukele, the self-described "worlds coolest dictator", has become one of Trump's most staunch defenders in the region and the two governments have been cultivating increasingly close ties. Earlier this year, Trump deported hundreds of mainly Venezuelan migrants from the U.S., claiming they were gang members, to El Salvador—where they were sent to Bukele's notorious mega-prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
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