El Salvador Enabling Environment Snapshot

Period covered by the report: September 2025-May 2026

The environment for civil society in El Salvador has remained unchanged since the baseline snapshot, continuing on a downward trajectory, marked by the consolidation of executive power and the expansion of legal and administrative restrictions on civic activity. This period follows the re-election of President Nayib Bukele in February 2024, which was made possible by a controversial ruling by the Constitutional Chamber in 2021 (1-2021) allowing immediate re-election, and by the constitutional reforms of July–August 2025 which formally abolished presidential term limits and permitted indefinite re-election.

International monitoring bodies have documented a marked democratic and civic backsliding. In its Freedom in the World 2026 report, Freedom House identified El Salvador as one of the countries with the greatest global decline in civil liberties in 2025, with a five-point drop, attributed to the erosion of checks and balances, restrictions on association and expression, and the entrenchment of the state of emergency. Meanwhile, the CIVICUS Monitor downgraded El Salvador’s civic space from ‘Obstructed’ to ‘Repressed’ in December 2025—the lowest rating the country has ever received—citing the systematic persecution of journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organisations. For example, the selective arrests of human rights defenders, the forced exile of at least 53 journalists and the closure of long-standing organisations demonstrate that, although some spaces formally persist, their exercise is limited by fear of economic, administrative or judicial reprisals.

A key factor in this regression has been the state of emergency, first declared in March 2022 and continuously renewed for over four years, still in force in 2026. Whilst the government attributes historically low homicide rates to the measure, it suspends fundamental constitutional guarantees, such as due process, freedom of association and the privacy of communications, thereby significantly limiting civic mobilisation and protest.

In June 2025, the government enacted the Foreign Agents Act (LAEX), which requires organisations and individuals receiving foreign funding to register, and imposes a 30% tax on foreign transfers. Widely criticised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and by international civil society groups, the law is seen as a tool for financial strangulation, surveillance and the selective sanctioning of critical organisations. Other regulatory reforms, including amendments to the Municipal Code, have extended similar registration and oversight requirements to Community Development Associations (ADESCOS), further reducing civic space at the community level.

As a result, although some formal channels for civil society participation remain, exercising these rights in practice has become increasingly risky. CIVICUS and press freedom organisations have denounced the selective detention of activists, the forced exile of dozens of journalists, the closure of organisations, and widespread self-censorship driven by fear of economic, administrative or judicial reprisals. Overall, these developments illustrate a civic environment that exists in name only but is severely restricted in practice, with significantly higher costs of participation for independent civil society actors.