Nine international organizations They expressed this Friday their rejection of the project of Foreign Agents Law promoted by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukelewhich proposes a 30% tax on donations that non -governmental organizations receive (NGO).
The initiative was announced last Tuesday by the Salvadoran president, shortly after several NGOs denounced the arbitrary detention of the environmental lawyer Alejandro Henríquez. The proposal is expected to be approved without major obstacles in the Legislative Assemblycontrolled by the ruling.
“If specified, this regulation would constitute a new and serious attack against civic space and the right to defend rights,” organizations expressed in a joint statement.
Among the signatory entities of the pronouncement stand out Amnesty Internationalhe Center for Justice and International Law (Cejil)the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rightsamong others.
According to the document, the Bukele government has adopted “an authoritarian pattern against social discontent”, systematically restricting the work of organizations that work in the Defense of Human Rights.
“With this law, the government not only seeks to silence civil society organizations that denounce abuse, but also directly hits people who receive their assistance,” he said Ana PiquerDirector for the Americas of Amnesty International.
Organizations also demanded Immediate release from Henríquez and the Evangelical Pastor José Pérezleader of a Peasant cooperative Formed by 300 families that protested this week against an attempt to evict in a dispute field.
In response, Bukele said that “humble people” are being “manipulated” by “Globalist left groups and NGOs, whose only real objective is to attack the government.” This Friday, the president reiterated on his page X (formerly Twitter) Your intention to apply a Gravamen to the OneGés.
It all starts in 1985, at that time the ista awarded 384 apples to the El Bosque cooperative, in Santa Tecla.
The idea was that 300 peasant families had better opportunities.
But several debts tied them … and the outdated system made the rest. pic.twitter.com/grvgp4yfuj
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 16, 2025
Nicaragua and systematic repression to NGOs, a mirror for El Salvador
The Salvadoran proposal has aroused comparisons with what happened in Nicaraguawhere the regime of Daniel Ortega And his wife, the vice president Rosario Murillohas promoted an offensive against civil organizations. Since 2018, the Nicaraguan government has canceled legal status of more than Five thousand 600 oenegés and has proceeded to expropriation of your assets.
The international community has warned that this type of laws seriously limits democratic spacehinder humanitarian aid and weakens the Organized Civil Societyespecially in contexts where they exist Complaints of abuse of power.