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Cristosal, the main non-governmental organization for the defense of human rights in El Salvador, announced its exit from El Salvador, after 25 years operating in the country. This did not go unnoticed in the social media conversation.
While the organization announced in a communiqué that it was opting for exile due to “the escalation of criminalization” against the civic space in El Salvador, the Bukele government responded by installing a narrative that allegedly accused the organization of attempting to evade taxes, thus diverting attention from the allegations of persecution of the organizations in the country.
The fact that organizations such as Cristosal and media outlets such as El Faro have moved their operations to other countries (Honduras and Guatemala in the case of Cristosal, and Costa Rica in the case of El Faro) is seen by international organizations as a warning sign for Salvadoran democracy, especially in view of the arrests of human rights defenders, journalists and opposition politicians.
What is happening in El Salvador
With the approval of the ‘Foreign Agents Law’ in May 2025, a legal framework was consolidated in El Salvador that imposes a 30% tax on international cooperation funds. This regulation has been interpreted by Amnesty International as a tool to control and restrict the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and critical media.
The legal framework not only affects funding, but also obliges organizations that receive international funding, directly or indirectly, to register as “foreign agents”, which implies being subject to constant audits, limitations on the execution of projects and the prohibition to participate in matters considered of “political interest”. This ambiguous wording allows the government to decide at its discretion which activity is legitimate and which is not.
Although this law led to the departure of the NGO Cristosal, as well as the digital media El Faro, both organizations reported being subjected to wiretapping, digital surveillance and online harassment. According to internal reports, several Cristosal workers were interrogated by undercover agents, and members of the El Faro team received anonymous threats, which mentioned their family members.
In addition, on May 18, lawyer Ruth Lopez, head of Cristosal’s Anti-Corruption and Justice Unit; who headed several investigations into Bukele’s government and was recognized by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential and inspiring women in the world in 2024, was arrested. López is accused of embezzlement during her tenure as a state official between 2008 and 2014. Along with lawyer Alejandro Henríquez and pastor José Ángel Pérez, the lawyer is considered by Amnesty International to be El Salvador’s prisoner of conscience.
What is being talked about in networks
We conducted a digital listening exercise to identify narratives and actors in social networks due to the increased conversation around the Cristosal announcement and to understand how the issue is being addressed from civil society and government; between June 24 and July 24, 2025, we recorded 7,880 mentions in this regard, with X being the main social network where 85.38 % of the mentions were concentrated (6,728), followed by Facebook with 11.54 % (909), Instagram with 1.69 % (113). and TikTok with 1.4 % remaining (110 mentions).
Among the findings were reports of censorship and repression that were countered by the government narrative focused on a prosperous and promising future, where Bukele’s “iron fist” is against gang violence, corruption and the political class, portraying NGOs and the media as phenomena of the past.
1. Digital denunciation
More than 80% of the mentions (6,364) of the study we conducted are directly related to Cristosal, with the highest activity in the conversation on July 17 and 18, when the NGO and El Faro announced their definitive exit from El Salvador.
A key point is that reactions to the news of the exit were not only generated in El Salvador, but included a large number of international reactions in other languages, highlighting 14.8% (1,159) in English, especially due to the international coverage of the organization’s closure in the country (1, 2, 3). In addition, we identified messages critical of Cristosal and support for the government (1, 2), as well as frequent use of X’s AI chatbot, Grok, which appears 144 times in the conversation (1, 2, 3).
The conversation by way of denunciation did not stop only at the departure of the NGO and media from the country, but also included messages with tags such as #LibertadParaRuthLopez #LibertadParaAlejandro and #LibertadParaJoseAngel (90 mentions altogether like this one in X) demanding the release of the detained lawyers and pastor.
Terms such as “amnesty” (70 mentions), #DDHH (84 mentions) and the name of the lawyer “Ruth López” (218 mentions), were also relevant within the conversation, focusing on the defense of human rights in the country.
2. The government’s response
While the denunciations of persecution gained visibility, the government’s communicational apparatus articulated an alternative narrative that presented the Foreign Agents Law as a technical and necessary measure. For example, networks such as TikTok, highlighted the use of the official account of the government of El Salvador to invite NGOs to register in the Registry of Foreign Agents with the justification of “ensuring that international cooperation really benefits Salvadorans”.
A non-confrontational tone was also maintained in official accounts on X and Facebook, in which the Foreign Agents Registry is presented as a simple bureaucratic or official procedure, including the publication of a course to complete the registration given by a private organization, the Business Foundation for Social Action (Fundemas). Despite the use of government accounts, President Nayib Bukele did not refer to Cristosal’s closure on his social networks.
Although the government entities did not speak directly about the exit of Cristosal or El Faro, pro-Bukele users did. In X, three pro-Bukele accounts stood out with high-flown expressions, insults and confrontations with other users, such as AnyaContreras60 (Anya Contreras) with 45 mentions, MReboola (Milu Reboola) with 29 mentions and CathyCa1 with 28 mentions in which they accused the media and NGOs of being “gang members” and of justifying his exit from the country.
Cristosal’s X account received at least 427 responses to its publications with insults and mockery, with terms such as “go away”, “don’t come back”, “don’t come back”, “rats”, “dogs”, etc. (1, 2, 3, 4). These responses were countered with comments of criticism and denunciation against the government, the government’s management or the emergency regime by citizens or accounts that appear to be citizens (1, 2, 3 and 4), as well as by various human rights organizations (1, 2).
In addition, we found 319 mentions with the term “taxes” in which different users accuse Cristosal and El Faro of leaving El Salvador for the sole purpose of evading taxes, reinforcing the official narrative of imposing a 30% tax on those who receive funds from abroad “to really help Salvadorans”.
Among them a video on TikTok from the program “Las Cosas Como Son”, by the bukelista communicator Natan Vaquiz that is also repeated on Facebook; in which he interviews Romeo Auerbach, former congressman (2021-2024) and who now presents himself as a political analyst, who reaffirms that Cristosal left the country “to avoid paying taxes, not out of fear”. Noticiero El Salvador and the blog El Informante also attack the organizations for “leaving the country to evade taxes” (1, 2, 3, and 4).
Although there was a significant conversation of denunciation by civil society and international actors; this was responded to quickly and aggressively by a pro-government digital machinery that managed to dominate part of the online debate, using both disinformation and direct harassment.
New difficulties for civil society
The departure of organizations such as Cristosal and El Faro de El Salvador reflects a worrying setback in the guarantee of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and civic participation. The approval of laws such as the Foreign Agents Law, accompanied by digital surveillance practices, harassment and arbitrary detentions, evidence of a hostile environment for those who defend human rights and independent journalism.
The Salvadoran government has chosen to reinforce a narrative that delegitimizes NGOs and independent media, presenting them as corrupt or unnecessary entities in a new country model based on supposed stability. This stance has been amplified in social networks by users and communicators sympathetic to the State, who reduce the departure of these organizations to a fiscal issue, ignoring the multiple complaints of persecution.
All this occurs in a context in which President Nayib Bukele has promoted a controversial reform to allow his indefinite reelection, which was approved by the Assembly, challenging fundamental democratic principles and further concentrating power in the Executive. This trend, added to the criminalization of dissidence and the forced departure of key organizations, configures a scenario of profound democratic weakening in El Salvador.
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