LatinNews Daily - 08 May 2026

*Salvadorean investigative outlet El Faro has denounced that the government led by authoritarian President Nayib Bukele has frozen the bank account and property of two partners of Trípode S.A., the company that manages the media outlet. The move has been slammed by El Faro, which moved operations to Costa Rica in 2023, citing harassment by the Bukele government in response to its investigative work, El Salvador’s national journalists’ association Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador (Apes), and Costa Rica-based NGO Centre for Justice and International Law (Cejil), among others. In a statement, Apes, which announced in October 2025 that it was moving to “another country in the region” citing “restrictions and challenges facing civic space”, described it as a new phase of “intimidation and systematic harassment against El Salvador’s independent media”. According to the Apes statement, which notes that the assets were frozen between February and April 2026, the Bukele government has also opened four audits against El Faro accusing it of tax evasion. It also points out that at least seven El Faro journalists were forced to flee the country last year amid reports that possible arrest warrants were being prepared. This all comes as the country continues to slide down the press freedom rankings. In its latest annual report on press freedom released on 30 April, international NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) highlighted that El Salvador, which ranks 143 out of 180 countries in its press freedom index, fell eight places in 2026, having dropped a staggering 62 places since Bukele first took office in 2019 when it ranked 81.

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