Bukele’s regime freezes assets of ‘El Faro’ shareholders

In the latest in a series of systematic attacks ongoing since September  2020 the Salvadorian regime has frozen personal assets of the independent media outlet’s shareholders. In a statement published on their websites, the Editorial Board revealed that between February and April of this year, the authorities froze a bank account and a property belonging to two partners of Trípodes S.A de CV, the company that founded el Faro. 

The media outlet views this as part “of a long-running tax crackdown” that began in 2020, shortly after President Nayib Bukele announced on national television that they were being investigated for “serious money laundering”. 

The Salvadorian Treasury launched four audits against Trípodes, which were unable to substantiate the president’s money laundering allegations in any of the four audits. Therefore they change the charge for tax evasion for the four fiscal year audited, detailed the media outlet. 

El Faro asserts that all required taxes were paid in full, but also points out that the regime is demanding taxes on non-existing income. They have appealed each of these findings and have demonstrated that these allegations are unfounded, but they maintain that it is very difficult to defend oneself in a co-opted judicial system like El Salvador’s. They have  denounced irregularities in the investigation and for including audits of fiscal years that had already expired.

The media outlet is certain that the these state-led attacks is a direct retaliation for its reporting on the regime’s “mafia-style deals”, institutional corruption and Bukele’s power grab for himself and his inner circle. They attribute the latest attack as a response to the airing of the TV documentary “The Deal”, which they co-produced with U.S program PBS Frontline, that details the regime’s criminal pacts with the gangs, and it comes just days after their deputy managing editor Sergio Arauz testified before the U.S Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission denouncing governments abuses and corruption. 

El Salvador is facing a critical situation regarding freedom of press and human rights. According to figures of the Association of Journalist of El Salvador (APES) til the mid-2025 accounts at least 40 to 53 journalists that had fled the country due to harassment, threats and fear of being arbitrary detain under the current state of emergency regime. Journalists have reported that they are being monitored and intimidated by police officers and facing judicial persecution.  

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