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Crackdown Against Civil Society Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n Authorities in El Salvador have arrested the prominent human rights lawyer Ruth Eleonora L\u00f3pez, Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n On May 18, 2025, at 11 p.m., Salvadoran police arrested L\u00f3pez at her home in San Salvador. Prosecutors are accusing L\u00f3pez\u2014who currently serves as the Director of Anti-Corruption and Justice at Cristosal, one of the leading human rights organizations in El Salvador\u2014of embezzlement. At the time of her arrest, however, authorities did not provide any details about the specific allegations against her.<\/p>\n \u201cRuth L\u00f3pez has bravely exposed corruption and human rights violations in El Salvador,\u201d said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cHer arrest appears to be part of increased efforts to silence critics of the Bukele government.\u201d<\/p>\n L\u00f3pez\u2019s detention is the latest reminder that, under President Nayib Bukele, El Salvador is increasingly hostile to journalists, union leaders, and human rights defenders. Labeling critics as \u201cgang defenders,\u201d the Bukele administration and its supporters in the Legislative Assembly have passed laws that undermine freedom of expression, revoked the tax-exempt status of some NGOs, and arrested human rights defenders, including, most recently, a lawyer and an evangelical pastor linked to a peaceful protest against evictions. As a result of escalating harassment, prosecutors who have exposed Bukele\u2019s government corruption and negotiations with gangs have been forced into exile, as have members of the media.<\/p>\n In May 2025, seven journalists with El Faro, a leading investigative news outlet, left the country after receiving information that the government had drawn up warrants for their arrest, a move that came following the publication\u2019s investigation into secret negotiations between the Bukele government and gangs. Intimidations and smear campaigns subsequently forced El Faro to relocate and move its finances to Costa Rica in 2022.<\/p>\n\n