El Salvador rights group says forced into exile by Bukele crackdown

SAN SALVADOR (AFP): A leading rights group investigating corruption in El Salvador has been forced into exile due to a crackdown by President Nayib Bukele’s administration, two of its members said Thursday.

The Cristosal group is a vocal critic of Bukele’s controversial anti-crime policies and also provides assistance to families of migrants deported by the United States, then imprisoned in El Salvador.

The NGO will announce its exit at a news conference later Thursday in Guatemala, the two members told AFP, asking not to be named.

It follows the arrest in May of the head of Cristosal’s anti-corruption unit, Ruth Lopez, who is accused of illicit enrichment.

Amnesty International has declared her a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate release.

Cristosal helps families of Salvadorans caught up in Bukele’s self-declared “war” on gangs, as well as more than 250 Venezuelans deported by President Donald Trump’s administration, which paid El Salvador to hold them in a notorious high-security facility.

In a recent interview with AFP, Cristosal director Noah Bullock said that in Bukele’s El Salvador “speaking out or asking something that is not aligned with the government entails the risk of being arrested.”

While rights groups have criticized Bukele’s methods, a dramatic drop in the homicide rate has made him popular at home.