On May 11, 2025 Rafael Pupo and Barb Magee from the El Salvador Committee had a lengthy Zoom meeting with the Fundahmer staff in San Salvador, Wendy, José, and the Executive Director, Javier, at their request. They needed to make us aware of the deteriorating situation in El Salvador and the effect it could have on our scholarship program with the youth of El Ocotillo.
In the month of May there was a serious ratcheting up of abuses of power and repressive legislation intended to silence any dissent against the Bukele government.
Continued and accelerated repression of the free press.
Seven journalists working for the now exiled news organization El Faro had to flee the country recently when they learned arrest warrants had been issued against them. Their “crimes” have been to document and expose the secret agreements Bukele made with the gangs to ensure his rise to absolute power. Despite the very real danger, many of these journalists have continued to report on the abuses of power justified under the “state of exception,” the Salvadoran version of Marshall Law. Declared in 2022 to fight gangs, it has now been extended to include anyone who questions government policy.
Jailing of human rights and judicial aid advocates
Internationally recognized civil rights attorney, Ruth Lopez, has been arrested and charged with embezzlement dating back 10 years and with no details provided. Ruth was currently serving as Director of Anti-Corruption and Justice at Cristosal, an organization we know well and have supported for years. Ruth is the most well-known of several human rights workers who have been arrested.
Redistribution of farmlands
According to this excellent explanation in The Guardian: Following the 12 year civil war, in the early 90s, “land redistribution was promised as a key step toward peace and social justice, a process that led to the formation of hundreds of rural cooperatives.” Recently, “megaprojects, extractivism, real estate and tourism developments, and agribusiness are all driving a new wave of dispossession. About 11,000 families are in extreme vulnerability.” These families often face legal uncertainty and sudden eviction notices, backed by the presence of police or private security.
When the farmers being evicted organized a peaceful protest to appeal to President Bukele, they were met by violent police action and the arrest of their leaders including their pastor and a civil rights attorney. So far, the area around El Ocotillo has not been impacted.
Foreign Agents Law
This is the greatest threat to our long-standing scholarship program and the reason that Fundahmer urgently reached out to us. The new Foreign Agents Law goes into effect in less than 90 days. It requires any organization (e.g. Fundahmer, Cristosal) receiving funds from outside the country to re-register with the interior ministry and pay a 30% tax on all such donations. The authorities can impose fines and revoke legal status of non-compliant organizations. This is another page out of the totalitarian playbook. Similar measures have been used in Putin’s Russia, Nicaragua and other authoritarian regimes. Bukele will use this to pressure, control, or remove any NGO which dares to speak against his policies. The legislative language is purposely vague, giving the government more power to easily weaponize it.
Our friends at Fundahmer are courageous and determined to move forward as long as they can despite any personal risks they and their families may face. They have explained that the 30% tax on donations will not go into effect until September 7, so the balance of this year’s scholarship funds, which we always send in June or July, should not be affected. Fundahmer will try to use a provision of the legislation to submit a letter requesting exemption from this regulation, but the outcome of that will be completely in the hands of the government.
For now, they ask for our prayers, and they expressed how much our solidarity means to them and to our brothers and sisters in El Ocotillo.
