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Security & Strategic Review - June 2025
El Salvador’s Bukele doubles down on dissent
The recent approval of a ‘foreign agents’ law and arrests of high-profile human rights defenders (HRDs) have left little doubt that El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is intent on taking an increasingly hard line on dissent. The moves have reignited existing fears regarding the criminalisation of HRDs and government critics under the ongoing state of emergency first implemented in March 2022 to tackle gang violence by Bukele who, since first taking office in 2019, has systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances. Critics warn El Salvador is now headed down a similar authoritarian path to Nicaragua, where the government led by President Daniel Ortega approved a foreign agents law in October 2020, and has forced the closure of thousands of civil society organisations, effectively shutting down civic space altogether.
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