News outlet, El Faro, hailed for its independent investigative reporting, has decided to move its base of operations out of El Salvador due to harassment from the government. This decision was made due to growing concerns about the state of democracy and civil liberties inside El Salvador. President Bukele has led a brutal crackdown on gangs over the last year. However, critics say that this safety has come at a high price, as key civil liberties have been trampled on and tens of thousands of people have faced arbitrary detention, with abuses and in custody death. Bukele has been attacking his rivals, including El Faro. Attacks have been numerous, including Spyware Attacks, surveillance and televised speeches by Bukele attacking the publications and its reporters.
El Salvadors history with gangs is straight forward. Many Salvadoran migrants were members of California-based gangs, who were then deported to El Salvador. This is then where they established the gangs, controling many aspects of the country. This makes it easier to see why people like Bukele, even though his methods are cruel and inhumane, are extreamly popular with people in El Salvador. He is getting results, and gang related activity is going in a downward spiral.
El Salvador has a human rights score 0.62. They have many problems including the president acussing the Supreme Electoral Court of organizing a fraud, abuses by security forces, the government closure of schools, the abuse of inmates in prison, Gangs, Violence, dissapearances of civillians, lack of government accountability, a lack of womens sexual and reproductive rights, lack of protection for people with disabilities, violance against those in the LGBT community and attacks on journalists.