Some experts are criticizing a report issued by the Donald Trump administration over its claims regarding El Salvador, specifically that there is no "credible" evidence to suggest that there are "significant human rights abuses" and that press freedom is "generally respected".
The claims were made as part of the U.S. government's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which assess the state of human rights around the world.
When discussing El Salvador, the U.S. government claimed that the human rights situation there had not experienced any "significant changes" in the past year. It also claimed that there were "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses."
The report stands in contrast with those published by organizations such as Amnesty International, which said it recorded "grave humans rights violations" since a state of emergency was declared in 2022, and "a systematic, widespread pattern of state abuse that has seen thousands of arbitrary detentions, the adoption of a policy of torture in detention centers, and hundreds of deaths under state custody."
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said it received "numerous" reports of "human rights violations" in the Central American country, including "systematic and widespread illegal and arbitrary detentions, unlawful raids on homes, excessive use of force, and violations of the rights of children and adolescents."
El Salvador has been in a state of emergency since March 2022, which the government declared in response to a weekend of deadly gang violence. Ever since, the Bukele administration has fiercely cracked down on the organizations, and now around 2% of the country's population is behind bars, in prisons where overcrowding, beatings, torture, and poor hygiene have been documented.
Experts also noted that despite claiming there were "no credible reports" of significant human rights abuses in the country, the U.S. also report says that Bukele's government "took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses."
Noah Bullock, director of NGO Cristosal, whose members recently left El Salvador due to "escalating criminalization" of human rights defenders, told the Latin Times that these two claims represent "contradictory findings."
Bullock went on to explain that Cristosal has identified at least 400 deaths linked to "systematic prison torture" in the country, stating: "No officials have been held accountable; instead, the justice system has shielded perpetrators, even in cases brought by victims' families."
The U.S. government also claimed in its report that "the constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media," a right which the report says was "generally respected" by the government.
Bullock responded to the passage of the report, saying that its "claims on freedom of expression are divorced from the current reality in El Salvador," adding that El Salvador's Journalists' Association (APES) recorded 789 acts of aggression against journalists in 2024.
APES said that around 40 journalists have fled El Salvador since June, describing the movement as a "mass exodus," driven by harassment, intimidation, and limitations on freedom of speech. The association claims there are "strong indications" that the government has "surveillance lists" and "intimidation lists" which contain the names of reporters and human rights defenders.
Artur Romeu, the Latin America director for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told Latin Times that "the fear of judicial proceedings and arbitrary arrests was palpable" when RSF spoke to journalists in the country's capital, San Salvador, in March.
He added: "El Salvador has dropped 61 places in RSF's global Press Freedom Index [in the past five years]. Against this backdrop, the United States' recent assertion that the country enjoys a favorable environment for press freedom is at odds with reality and overlooks the serious deterioration documented on the ground."
The report was also criticized by Ana María Mendez, the Central America director for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). She told the Latin Times that journalists in El Salvador are facing "systematic harassment and legal pressure," pointing to the case of investigative media outlet El Faro, which has seen ten of its journalists leave the country amid heightened repression and the threat of arrest.
Citing the 2024 APES report on the number of attacks on reporters, Mendez said that El Salvador's press is experiencing "a level of repression not seen since the civil war era."
The annual report comes shortly after a U.S. government spokesperson told news agency EFE that the Trump administration would respect El Salvador's decision to abolish presidential term limits.
The relationship between El Salvador and the U.S. has appeared particularly strong since the Trump administration paid Bukele's government $6 million USD earlier this year to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. to El Salvador, and detain them in the "mega-prison" known as CECOT.
When the two presidents met in April, they both discussed the deportations and praised one another for their respective crackdowns on crime. Trump described Bukele as a "friend" who had taken a "very, very effective stance against crime," while Bukele lauded Trump for his attempts to "liberate 350 million Americans" from "crime" and "terrorists."
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