The director of El Faro, Carlos Dada, alerted this Saturday that the Attorney General's Office of El Salvador is preparing arrest warrants for journalists from this media outlet. This comes after an interview was published with a gang leader who claims that the government of Nayib Bukele reached an agreement with a criminal group.
The alert arose after El Faro published a third installment of the aforementioned interview. Juan Pappier, Americas Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, mentioned in a statement that all eyes are on El Salvador regarding this incident.
According to the revelations, during several days in January 2025, a team from El Faro traveled to various cities to conduct interviews with two leaders of the Barrio 18 Revolucionarios gang. Both individuals confessed to having made pacts with the political environment of President Bukele and having fled the country with the government's complicity.
The media asserts that it is the first time gang leaders, who even entered a maximum-security prison masked to receive instructions, reveal in video the details of the agreements that facilitated Bukele’s rise to power.
Despite these revelations, neither President Bukele nor members of his administration have responded to what was published by El Faro. On Friday, Bukele hinted in a social media message that a country without violence isn't profitable for human rights organizations, globalist media, and elites, mentioning George Soros.
Since March 2022, El Salvador has been under a state of exception as part of the "war" the government is waging against gangs. This measure has been extended 38 times by the Legislative Assembly, dominated by the ruling party. Despite support for the reduction of violence, numerous reports of human rights violations, including deaths in state custody, have been presented.
El Faro indicates that the breakdown of a pact between the government and the gangs led to this escalation of violence. The implementation of this regime has resulted in the capture of more than 85,900 alleged gang members and individuals associated with these structures. Despite its results in reducing violence, the measure has been controversial due to alleged human rights violations.
