The main association monitoring attacks on journalists in El Salvador has become the latest victim of the country’s controversial Foreign Agents Law.
The Salvadoran Journalists Association (APES, for its acronym in Spanish) announced on Oct. 1 that it will go into exile as a result of the law, which requires organizations receiving foreign funds to register with the government and levies large fines for those who don’t comply. APES said it will transfer its legal status to another country in the region which it prefers not to name at this moment.
"We're leaving legally so we can continue to be useful to our colleagues inside,” APES President Sergio Arauz told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
The latest announcement comes after APES said on Sept. 16 it would close operations in El Salvador due to mandatory enrollment with the Registry of Foreign Agents (RAEX). The organization said that in the last 90 days, it had suspended, liquidated and closed all projects whose funding came from abroad.
It was the fourth NGO to shut down operations in the country following the approval of the law, as reported by the Associated Press. It also joins 43 journalists who had gone into exile as of June this year, according to a recent APES report.
In its more than 80 years of existence, APES has managed to defend journalism in an increasingly "hostile" country, as Angélica Cárcamo, former APES president and current executive director of the Central American Network of Journalists (RCP), told LJR. With its departure, she said journalists on the ground will be more exposed and have few protection mechanisms.
“While it's true that APES will try to continue carrying out its work, it will be a challenge because working in your country as a professional association is not the same as leaving because it’s the same State that is persecuting you,” Cárcamo said. “[It will be a challenge] to try to maintain communication channels with your people because that is precisely what they want: to prevent the organization from continuing to do its work to finally weaken what little remains of independent journalism in El Salvador."
El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved the Foreign Agents Law on May 20, 2005. Since the bill was submitted to the legislature by President Nayib Bukele, it has raised red flags from various national and international organizations, who considered that it aimed to criminalize civic space.
The law requires all individuals or legal entities, whether domestic or foreign, that receive funds from abroad to enroll with the RAEX. They must report their projects, activities and objectives, which the government must authorize. It also establishes a 30% tax on all income, including donations, payments or other items.
Registered foreign agents are also prohibited from participating in "activities for political or other purposes" that aim to "disturb public order" or "threaten the social and political stability of the country."
Those who fail to register may receive fines from US$100,000 to US$250,000, as well as the cancellation of their legal status, and may face administrative or even criminal proceedings.
"We believe that if we complied with the rules of the Foreign Agents Law, we would either die or be forced to remain silent and keep our mouths shut. And in that sense, our work would not be what is required in these times to defend our colleagues and the profession," Arauz said.
Both Bukele and the Assembly have defended the law, saying it seeks to strengthen “transparency.”
However, organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, have spoken out against it.
“There’s no question that the Foreign Agents Law is about silencing those who expose corruption, human rights violations, and secretive negotiations with gang leaders by the Bukele government,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.
The IACHR said the high taxes that may make the financial sustainability of organizations and media “unfeasible.”
APES is considered one of the oldest press associations in Latin America. Founded in 1936 with the purpose of "defending journalists and the right to freedom of expression," this is the first time it will have to operate outside of El Salvador.
The "brain and heart" of APES's services, Arauz said, is the recording of attacks and violations of freedom of expression in the country. This is done through a monitoring center and an open telephone line (also available through social media) where journalists report violations of their rights.
According to these records, 2024 had become the year with the highest number of attacks (789 in total) since 2018, when the Center for Monitoring Attacks Against Journalists was created. However, Arauz said, reports in 2025 have increased. In just three months, the APES Legal Aid Clinic recorded almost the same number of forced displacements as it had recorded in its entire existence.
Arauz said this monitoring work will continue from exile.
APES’ legal aid clinic provides assistance to "serious" cases, Arauz said. These include arbitrary detentions, police searches, confiscation of work equipment, among others. Legal assistance could also be provided to a media outlet or journalist who wanted to legally "shield" a journalistic piece.
The training area "was the one that was unfortunately suspended most abruptly" since it received the most foreign funding, Arauz said. As part of the training, APES was able to connect media outlets in El Salvador with specialized mentors who guided more complex pieces. Arauz said at least 300 news pieces were produced in the last two years.
APES also offers its journalists digital security advice and psychological and emotional support.
“[Exile] is a difficult decision, clearly, but what's the point of existing legally without being able to help in El Salvador?” Arauz said. “We're fighting for our survival, not just for the right to exist. […] It's an obligatory option to stay alive, to keep our heads above water and float in order to survive, that is, to save ourselves to save other people.”
Given this situation, Arauz calls on the international community to continue cooperating and funding organizations like APES and media outlets that have been forced into exile.
APES is only the latest organization to announce its exile. Following the arrest of Ruth Eleonora López, head of the anti-corruption and justice unit of the non-governmental organization Cristosal, on May 18, that organization also went into exile. López remains in detention, while her family and legal representatives have said they have not been able to communicate with her. On Sept. 22, the IACHR granted her precautionary measures.
At least three other activists were also arrested in May, the month in which the number of Salvadoran journalists in exile reached 40. It’s part of the so-called “May escalation,” a term used to describe the government’s persecution of individuals and organizations, mostly human rights defenders and journalists.
Recently, media outlet FocosTV also announced the transfer of its operations to Costa Rica, as investigative site El Faro did years ago.
“The forced exile of any journalists' association in any country in the world should raise alarm in the international community, including democratic governments, because their departure highlights the lack of democratic institutions that currently exist in El Salvador,” Cárcamo said. “We are facing a government that entered the democratic process but is rapidly moving toward the consolidation of a dictatorship.”
