El Salvador president announces 'foreign agents' proposal, fueling concerns of crackdown on dissent

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — 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% tax on donations to non-governmental organizations, some of which have long criticized 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.''

In nearby Nicaragua, the government in an all-out crackdown on dissent has used such laws to shut down or outlaw at least 3,500 NGOs since mass social protests erupted in 2018. Among them were a scouting association and a rotary club.

Bukele's proposal comes after hundreds of people peacefully protesting an eviction order in front of Bukele's house were met with a violent response by police, which detained at least two people. The leader quickly cast blame on civil society groups and announced the measure on his social media.

''Yesterday we witnessed how humble people were manipulated by self-proclaimed leftist groups and globalist NGOs, whose only real goal is to attack the government,'' he wrote.

Bukele has cited such funds as evidence of the groups' corruption and bias against him, but it is fairly common in poorer countries in Latin America to depend on international aid dollars, as it's often difficult to raise money in their own countries.

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.

Since, Bukele has further consolidated power in all branches of government, and simultaneously feels ''emboldened'' by his alliance with Trump to stamp out dissent, said Pappier.

Bukele has long been at odds with human rights groups as they have criticized his harsh crackdown on the country's gangs, in which he has suspended key constitutional rights and arrested more than 85,000 for alleged gang ties. He has repeatedly accused human rights organizations of defending gangsters.

Security has improved dramatically, and Bukele easily won reelection last year despite a constitutional prohibition on serving consecutive terms.

Human rights groups are again criticizing Bukele's administration after the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, despite little to no evidence that they belonged to a gang as the Trump administration alleged.

The measure builds off a number of moves by the government in recent weeks that have raised alarm by watchdog groups.

''El Salvador is entering that group of countries that repress civil society in order to stay in power and that there is no criticism, no questioning, no social scrutiny of the exercise of power,'' said Ingrid Escobar, lawyer and head of the rights group Socorro Juridico.

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.

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.