section_path: Public image/Relationship with the press
section_name: Relationship with the press
paragraph_text: Relationship with the press
  
  There is a before and an after Nayib Bukele for El Salvador. (Hay un antes y un después de Nayib Bukele para El Salvador.)
  
  Bukele and a number of his government officials have attacked journalists and news outlets in speeches and on social media.: 29–30 He has dismissed critics of his government as spreading " fake news " and accused them of being " mercenaries ". Bukele has also stated that journalism was once a "noble career that sought the truth" (" carrera noble que buscaba la verdad ") that had supposedly become propaganda. Journalists have been harassed and threatened online by Bukele's supporters. The El Salvador Journalists Association (APES) estimated that by November 2022, at least a dozen journalists had fled El Salvador since Bukele took office citing fears for their safety. APES has also stated that journalists have experienced threats, harassment, doxxing, intimidation, surveillance, and criminal prosecution during Bukele's presidency.
  
  According to political scientists, El Salvador has experienced democratic backsliding under Bukele as he has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties, and attacked independent media and the political opposition. Journalists, politicians, and political analysts have described Bukele as an autocrat, an authoritarian, a strongman, a caudillo, and a " millennial dictator". He has ironically referred to himself in his Twitter profile as the "Dictator of El Salvador", "the coolest dictator in the world" (although news outlets often render this as the "world's coolest dictator"), the " Emperor of El Salvador", the " CEO of El Salvador", and the " Philosopher King ". Eduardo Escobar, a lawyer with Citizen Action, a non-governmental organization, stated that Bukele's use of his Twitter profile was part of his strategy to "ridicule the feelings of the public or the opposition".
  
  In November 2021, Bukele introduced a bill known as the "Foreign Agents Law" (" Ley de Agentes Extranjeros ") to the Legislative Assembly with the goal of "prohibiting foreign interference" (" prohibir la injerencia extranjera ") in Salvadoran political affairs. Although he stated that the law was modeled on the United States' Foreign Agents Registration Act, critics instead compared the Foreign Agents Law to Nicaraguan laws that exercise press censorship by shutting down organizations and arresting journalists. In April 2022, the Legislative Assembly passed a law that allowed courts to sentence journalists to 10 to 15 years' imprisonment for reproducing or transmitting messages from gangs at the beginning of the country's gang crackdown. The APES described the law as "a clear attempt at censorship of media". According to a September 2024 Infobae report, leaked audio recordings made by Alejandro Muyshondt in August 2020 supposedly recorded him and Ernesto Castro, then Bukele's personal secretary, agreeing to spy on the newspapers El Diario de Hoy, El Faro, La Prensa Gráfica, and Revista Factum.
  
  A few weeks after El Faro alleged that Bukele's government had negotiated with gangs in 2020 to reduce the country's homicide rate, Bukele launched an investigation of El Faro for money laundering. Although the office of the attorney general did not begin such an investigation, El Faro was subject to tax audits that Human Rights Watch's José Miguel Vivanco described as "selective and abusive". The audits were suspended in March 2021 after a Supreme Court order citing concerns about a risk to freedom of expression. In 2022, Amnesty International stated that at least 22 Salvadoran journalists (most of whom worked for El Faro) had their phones tapped by the Salvadoran government using the Israeli Pegasus spyware. El Faro moved its headquarters to San José, Costa Rica in April 2023, saying that it was trying to avoid "fabricated accusations" from Bukele's government. In 2025, Bukele claimed that most independent journalists and media outlets were part of a supposed "global money laundering operation" (" operación mundial de lavado de dinero "), referring to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
  
  There is a before and an after Nayib Bukele for El Salvador. (Hay un antes y un después de Nayib Bukele para El Salvador.)
  
  Bukele and a number of his government officials have attacked journalists and news outlets in speeches and on social media.: 29–30 He has dismissed critics of his government as spreading " fake news " and accused them of being " mercenaries ". Bukele has also stated that journalism was once a "noble career that sought the truth" (" carrera noble que buscaba la verdad ") that had supposedly become propaganda. Journalists have been harassed and threatened online by Bukele's supporters. The El Salvador Journalists Association (APES) estimated that by November 2022, at least a dozen journalists had fled El Salvador since Bukele took office citing fears for their safety. APES has also stated that journalists have experienced threats, harassment, doxxing, intimidation, surveillance, and criminal prosecution during Bukele's presidency.
  
  According to political scientists, El Salvador has experienced democratic backsliding under Bukele as he has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties, and attacked independent media and the political opposition. Journalists, politicians, and political analysts have described Bukele as an autocrat, an authoritarian, a strongman, a caudillo, and a " millennial dictator". He has ironically referred to himself in his Twitter profile as the "Dictator of El Salvador", "the coolest dictator in the world" (although news outlets often render this as the "world's coolest dictator"), the " Emperor of El Salvador", the " CEO of El Salvador", and the " Philosopher King ". Eduardo Escobar, a lawyer with Citizen Action, a non-governmental organization, stated that Bukele's use of his Twitter profile was part of his strategy to "ridicule the feelings of the public or the opposition".
  
  In November 2021, Bukele introduced a bill known as the "Foreign Agents Law" (" Ley de Agentes Extranjeros ") to the Legislative Assembly with the goal of "prohibiting foreign interference" (" prohibir la injerencia extranjera ") in Salvadoran political affairs. Although he stated that the law was modeled on the United States' Foreign Agents Registration Act, critics instead compared the Foreign Agents Law to Nicaraguan laws that exercise press censorship by shutting down organizations and arresting journalists. In April 2022, the Legislative Assembly passed a law that allowed courts to sentence journalists to 10 to 15 years' imprisonment for reproducing or transmitting messages from gangs at the beginning of the country's gang crackdown. The APES described the law as "a clear attempt at censorship of media". According to a September 2024 Infobae report, leaked audio recordings made by Alejandro Muyshondt in August 2020 supposedly recorded him and Ernesto Castro, then Bukele's personal secretary, agreeing to spy on the newspapers El Diario de Hoy, El Faro, La Prensa Gráfica, and Revista Factum.
  
  A few weeks after El Faro alleged that Bukele's government had negotiated with gangs in 2020 to reduce the country's homicide rate, Bukele launched an investigation of El Faro for money laundering. Although the office of the attorney general did not begin such an investigation, El Faro was subject to tax audits that Human Rights Watch's José Miguel Vivanco described as "selective and abusive". The audits were suspended in March 2021 after a Supreme Court order citing concerns about a risk to freedom of expression. In 2022, Amnesty International stated that at least 22 Salvadoran journalists (most of whom worked for El Faro) had their phones tapped by the Salvadoran government using the Israeli Pegasus spyware. El Faro moved its headquarters to San José, Costa Rica in April 2023, saying that it was trying to avoid "fabricated accusations" from Bukele's government. In 2025, Bukele claimed that most independent journalists and media outlets were part of a supposed "global money laundering operation" (" operación mundial de lavado de dinero "), referring to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).