“Opinar can cost prison”: Chrysal, the largest human rights NGO of El Salvador, leaves the country

Manifestant in favor of Ruth López — Photo foot, Ruth López, the director of the Anti -Corruption Unit of Chrysal, was imprisoned under accusations of corruption in a process questioned by international organizations.

- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
48 minutes

Chrysal, the main non -governmental organization of human rights defense in El Salvador, announced Thursday that he leaves the Central American country.

The decision comes after its director of Anti -Corruption and Justice, Ruth López, was arrested for corruption charges, in a process that has been questioned by international organizations.

“After 25 years of work in El Salvador, we suspend operations in the country before the criminalization escalation,” Cristosal published, founded in 2001 by Anglican bishops, on the social network X.

Chrysal leaders communicate their decision from Guatemala. — Photo foot, Chrysal leaders communicated their decision from Guatemala.

In a statement, he also attributed his departure to “the imposition of the Law of Foreign Agents (LAEX) and the weak institutional independence” in the country chaired by Nayib Bukele.

This law, promoted by the president himself and in force since June, requires people or organizations to receive foreign financing pay a 30 % tax for these transactions and prohibits them from carrying out political activities.

Cristosal added that his work continues, “reorganized and committed, from Guatemala and Honduras”, countries where he has also been working for years and has headquarters.

BBC Mundo requested a reaction to the Bukele government through the press manager for international media of the Presidency, but had no response until publishing this note.

However, following the signaling, on June 1, during his annual speech before the nation, the president went to the media and said: “Do you know what? I am not careful that they call me dictator. I prefer that to kill Salvadorans on the street.”

And so he once again highlighted his security achievements, those who have earned him an overwhelming support among the population, as the surveys continue to show it.

The complaint to the Bukele government

Crystosal accuses the Bukele government of having “dismantled the basic principles of democracy.”

“Under a state of permanent exception and with absolute control of all institutions, El Salvador has ceased to be a rule of law. Express an opinion or demand basic rights today can cost prison,” said Chrys.

The Christian NGO claims to have faced “legal and administrative harassment, espionage, surveillance of its activities and homes, as well as defamation campaigns” under the administration of Bukele, which has governed since June 2019.

He also claimed that Ruth López “is prey for demanding transparency and denouncing corruption” and his imprisonment is “part of an exemplary punishment strategy to intimidate” dissent.

Finally, he explained that he leaves El Salvador to protect his workers and guarantee the continuity of his work and mission.

As the main human rights organization of El Salvador, Chrysal claims to have undergone a growing pressure by the Bukele government, which culminated in López's arrest.

López remains in preventive detention, accused of peculation or embezzlement of public funds in his previous stage in the Supreme Electoral Court and during the administration of the previous president, Salvador Sánchez Cerén.

Ruth López — Photo foot, López, arrested by order of the Attorney General's Office on May 18, 2025, claims to be innocent and attributes the process to its denunciation of human rights violations.

A turning point in the pressure on the critical voices that, according to the specialists consulted by BBC Mundo, would have to do with which Bukele feels backed by his alliance with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who has not only praised him but has made it “essential” for his own deportation policy.

“He believes, rightly, that he will not have any criticism on the part of this administration, as he had of Biden's,” Enrique Roig Mundo assured BBC, who was undersecretary assistant to the Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US State Department of State, when he was interviewed for another report on this same issue.

Neither the Prosecutor's Office nor Presidency have answered the numerous requests for the BBC Mundo so far.

The Inter -American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is one of the agencies that has shown concern about the current context of El Salvador.

“Civil society organizations question that the criminal causes would be a form of retaliation for their work with people detained during the exception regime and by complaints of abuse in prisons,” said the entity, which is part of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The exception regime

Get up — Photo foot, Bukele said on several occasions that he doesn't care to be called “dictator.”

Bukele rules since March 2022 under an exception regime, which allows him to apply extraordinary measures that imply the temporary suspension of fundamental rights of citizens.

At this time El Salvador has gone from being one of the most insecure and violent countries in Latin America to one of the safest, from the 38 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants of 2019 to 1.9 last year, according to official data.

In that process, it also became one of the countries with the highest imprisonment in the world.

Bukele maintains high popularity among Salvadorans, above 80% according to most polls, which nevertheless also denote some concern for drifting the right to free expression.

A recent survey of the Public Opinion Institute (Iudop) of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) gives it a note of 8.15 out of 10, although it also indicates that almost six out of ten Salvadorans are afraid to suffer reprisals if they criticize the government.