President announces ‘foreign agents’ proposal, fuelling concerns of crackdown on dissent

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP):

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he’s pushing forward a “foreign agents” bill that critics say would deal another blow to civil society and independent journalistic organizations as the popular president tightens his control three years into a crackdown against gangs.

While Bukele announced few details of the proposal Tuesday night, the president wrote on X that the bill would include a 30 per cent tax on donations to non-governmental organizations, some of which have long criticised his government for moves they assert are undemocratic. Because Bukele’s party has a firm grip on control of the country’s congress, he will likely face few hurdles in jamming the legislation through.

It resembles a similar proposal championed by Bukele in 2021, which collapsed under the weight of international criticism. But critics say the Salvadoran leader – adored by American right-wing figures – has become emboldened by his recent political alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Juan Pappier, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, warned that it falls in line with measures passed by autocratic governments to crack down on dissent, citing laws in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, Belarus and China.

“Passing foreign actors legislation is a classic move in the autocrats’ playbook. There’s nothing creative or innovative about this,” Pappier said. “This is a way of stigmatizing organizations that receive foreign funding and of limiting their work.”

Bukele’s 2021 proposal would have required groups that receive monetary support from abroad to register as “foreign agents,” something that would severely limit their activities. The measure failed in Congress that year after the Biden administration and the European Union raised concerns, and the German embassy threatened to withdraw funding for humanitarian programs in the country.

Earlier in the month, Bukele ordered the arrest of five heads of bus companies after they defied his order to offer free transport for a week following a major highway closure.

That same week, the investigative news organization El Faro said it received word that the government was preparing arrest warrants for reporters after the organization published a series of stories about Bukele’s alleged ties to gangs. No arrests have been made.