Facing threats, leading human rights group exits El Salvador
NPR Online News3 days
Rights Group Cristosal Ceases Operations in El Salvador
Above: Directors of the NGO Cristosal during a press conference on July 17, 2025. Image copyright: Johan Ordóñez/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Government-critical narrative
Bukele has systematically dismantled democratic institutions and civil liberties in El Salvador, forcing journalists and human rights advocates into exile through arbitrary arrests, surveillance and punitive laws. The departure of Cristosal further consolidates his authoritarian grip on power as there are no more checks and balances.
Pro-government narrative
New laws in El Salvador simply require transparency from organizations receiving international funding, so that Cristosal has suspended its operations in the country is a testament to the fact that the globalist NGO was actually a foreign-funded political organization operating within the country's borders under the disguise of being a human rights group.