El Salvador’s top human rights organization, Cristosal, announced on Thursday it is leaving the country because of mounting harassment and legal threats by the government of President Nayib Bukele. The organization has been one of the most visible critics of Bukele, documenting abuses in the strongman’s war on the country’s gangs and the detention of hundreds of Venezuelan deportees in an agreement with the U.S. President Donald Trump.
Cristosal has been working in El Salvador since 2000, when it was founded by Evangelical bishops to address human rights and democratic concerns after the country’s civil war. On Thursday, the human rights organization announced that it had packed up its offices and moved 20 employees to neighboring Guatemala and Honduras. Cristosal quietly got staff and their families out before publicly announcing they were leaving out of fear they could be targeted by the Bukele government. The decision came after its top anti-corruption lawyer Ruth López was jailed in May on enrichment charges, which the organization denies.
Bukele’s government has long targeted opponents, but Cristosal’s executive director, Noah Bullock, said things reached a tipping point in recent months as Bukele has grown empowered by his alliance with Trump. “The clear targeting of our organization has made us choose between exile or prison,” Bullock said. “The Bukele administration has unleashed a wave of repression over the past few months … There’s been an exodus of civil society leaders, professionals, and even businessmen.”
Cristosal’s flight from the country marks another blow to checks and balances in a country where Bukele has consolidated control of the government. Bullock said no longer being able to work in the country will make it significantly harder for the organization to continue its legal work, particularly supporting those detained with little access to due process.
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