El Faro, a Salvadoran investigative outlet, said Salvadoran authorities froze two of its members’ assets, including a bank account and property, in what the outlet described as a politically motivated escalation of pressure on its work. El Faro said the step came as it continues to report on alleged corruption and governance practices tied to President Nayib Bukele, who came to power in 2019 on an anti-corruption platform.
El Faro director Carlos Dada said the outlet learned of the freezing through the bank and property registry rather than receiving formal notification from the government. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Dada said, “It’s another level of attack against us with a clear purpose,” adding, “These are not fiscal measures. They are political measures trying to silence us.” He said the actions did not amount to fiscal measures aimed at resolving tax matters.
El Faro has publicly sparred with Bukele’s administration over its investigations, including revelations that Bukele’s government negotiated with gangs. The latest move, according to El Faro, arrived shortly after the outlet released a documentary with PBS Frontline about the gang negotiations.
In past comments, Bukele has dismissed El Faro’s reporting as false, calling the outlet’s work “fake news.” On Thursday, his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the asset freeze.
The outlet also cited a longer campaign of scrutiny and pressure. El Faro said Salvadoran authorities have carried out ongoing audits of the organization since 2020, alleging that it evaded $200,000 in taxes—a claim Dada denied. The outlet said its journalists have also been targeted by spyware attacks, including Pegasus being detected on more than 20 of its journalists’ iPhones in 2022, and that its journalists later sued NSO Group in U.S. federal court.
El Faro has said it moved its headquarters to Costa Rica in 2023 because of what it described as a repressive climate, and that all of its members now live in exile outside El Salvador. In El Salvador, criticism has also intensified from human rights groups over Bukele’s use of a four-year state of exception that, according to AP, has resulted in the imprisonment of more than 91,000 people.
El Faro pointed to a broader pattern of repression beyond its own case, saying that the practice of audits and confiscations has been weaponized in other parts of the region to intimidate critics, including in Nicaragua under President Daniel Ortega. Claudia Paz y Paz, the director of the Costa Rica-based Center for Justice and International Law and a lawyer representing El Faro, said at the Thursday news conference that the freeze was “retaliation” for El Faro’s work and that it seeks to “silence the voices of journalists.”
El Faro said it is taking the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, arguing that the asset freeze is part of a broader effort to curtail independent reporting in Bukele’s government.