Montage showing the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with the press. Made by ProBox and published with their permission.

This article was written by Probox, a Latin American Global Voices media partner.

Nayib Bukele's government in El Salvador has captured international attention for its story of economic stability and achieving security, in many cases projecting itself as a model of transformation in the region. However, this image of success contrasts with increasingly alarming complaints about the restriction of fundamental freedoms, particularly the freedom of the press and government transparency.

The environment for independent Salvadoran journalists has become increasingly hostile, with a worrying increase in attacks, stigmatization, and judicial persecution.

Recent reports by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reveal the significant setbacks in freedoms of information and access to public information from 2022, with the establishment of the state of emergency in El Salvador.

IAPA highlighted that 2023 was the most critical year for the press in El Salvador since the end of the civil war, with a 66 percent increase in aggressions against journalists.

In parallel, the US State Department, in its Fiscal Transparency Report 2024, has highlighted the lack of public audits and growing doubts about the country's financial management, especially regarding unaudited accounts and the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender.

Despite the progress in the publication of some financial data, the report warns that oversight institutions lack independence and have not fulfilled international auditing standards. These problems, in addition to weakening confidence in public management, raise serious questions about the government's true commitment to accountability.

Bukele's narratives

An investigation by ProBox provides deeper insight into how the official narrative of the Bukele government is being spread and amplified in the digital environment, while repression of the critical press continues to increase.

ProBox used social listening tools to monitor the online conversation on topics related to press freedom, the persecution of journalists, and government transparency in El Salvador.

The study revealed that between September 2 and October 2, 191 mentions were recorded related to terms such as “government persecution,” “access to public information,” and “harassment of journalists.”

Most of these mentions were concentrated on X (previously Twitter), with 57.07 percent of the total, followed by Facebook with 37.17 percent, and fewer on Instagram. The day with the highest activity was September 13, when 22 mentions were recorded on these topics.

The keywords most cited in the posts included “freedom of the press” (28 mentions) and “deterioration of freedom” (12 mentions), reflecting the concern of journalists and users about increasing government control over the media.

The complaints point to a hostile environment for journalistic work, in which judicial harassment and harassment in social networks go hand in hand, driven by the disqualifying rhetoric of government officials. In this sense, it is possible to see posts from users protesting for the freedom of expression in El Salvador and categorizing the Bukele government as a dictatorship on X.

Likewise, media such as La Prensa Gráfica, CNN en Español, La Gaceta, and journalist Roberto Cavada have published about the IAPA reports and CPJ, denouncing the restrictions on access to information, especially on sensitive topics such as crime and prison conditions. These publications have also pointed out the existence of a “digital army” of trolls and bots used to discredit critics and amplify official propaganda.

An aspect that caught the attention was complaints like that of FOCOS, an organization that, from its Facebook account, warned about how the government has begun to block the profiles of government critics.

Critical organizations and media have reported that the government of El Salvador has created more than 5,000 bot accounts on platforms such as X, Instagram, and Facebook, used to spread pro-Bukele propaganda and attack opposition voices. These accounts have been blocked by the platforms following allegations of coordinated manipulation of the public conversation.

Screenshot of a video from the FOCOS account on Facebook

Pro-Bukelism is amplified in social networks.

The conversation was also analyzed around keywords and phrases such as “Bukele's economic plan,” “fully funded budget,” “innovation and security,” and “bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador,” and the participation of some network users who actively promote pro-Bukele content, such as @soyjoseyoutuber and @tamarindosv.

Through this search, 223 mentions were obtained between September 8 and October 7, highlighting the activity of September 15 (Salvadoran Independence Day along with the rest of Central American nations), with 33 recorded mentions.

This conversation was primarily concentrated on Facebook with 56.05 percent of recorded mentions (125), followed by X with 43.05 percent of mentions (96), then by Instagram with 0.45 percent of mentions (1), and by TikTok with 0.45 percent of mentions (1).

The government's official narrative has achieved a strong presence in social networks through pro-Bukele figures and accounts (such as @soyjoseyoutuber and @tamarindosv), as well as through the dissemination of the discourse on economic stability and security success.

For example, Bukele's announcement on September 15 about the presentation of a budget for 2025 fully financed without the need for foreign debt was amplified by these users and replicated on platforms such as Facebook, X, and TikTok.

One of the most viral examples was a TikTok video, uploaded by the @bukelord account, in which the moment of Nayib Bukele's speech was published in which he made mention of the budget proposal that accumulated more than 1.1 million views, 126,400 likes, 6,509 comments, 5,638 saves, and 8,585 sends.

Screenshot of a video from the Bukelord account on TikTok.

This digital activity reinforces the image of success that the government is trying to project, but at the same time hides the persistent problems in human rights and transparency topics.

The official discourse of the Bukele government has been marketing his management as an economic success story. However, this story is increasingly being criticized by media and human rights organizations, which see these achievements as a distraction from underlying problems related to freedom of expression and transparency.

Although the government has presented initiatives such as the Code of Ethics and Integrity in the General Direction of Customs, for some sectors these measures seem insufficient or limited in their implementation.

Repression and censorship toward journalists continue to be a constant threat that affects civil society's ability to hold its rulers accountable.