The president receives criticism for the dangers that a law of this type represents for any country and democracy.
The president of El Salvador adds a new controversy to his credit, now with the attempt to approve in Congress the Law of Foreign Agents to prevent natural or legal persons, parties or civil society organizations from receiving donations from other countries for political activities .
This would be a strategy to stop criticism and actions against the decisions of your Government. In addition, the humanitarian organization Cristosal pointed out that this would hit the victims of violence in the country, by making the work of NGO human rights defenders “unviable”.
“The main affected by a law of this nature are not the organizations, but the thousands of beneficiaries with the defense of human rights, care for victims of forced displacement and victims who have not had access to justice,” said Cristosal in a statement.
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) also warned of the negative effects on freedom of expression and of the press that approval would have, according to EFE.
Jorge Canahuati, president of the IAPA, and Carlos Jornet, president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, expressed that the Salvadoran president’s proposal “imitates and deepens” a law that the Government of Nicaragua “uses to muzzle critical voices and independent ”.
Canahuati, president of the OPSA group, from Honduras, and Jornet, journalistic director of The voice of the interior, from Argentina, said that “it is a severe limitation for the operation of media critical of the Government and of organizations that support social and human rights issues that depend on international support to carry out their work.”
Presented to the Legislature last April at the initiative of President Bukele, the law also establishes an additional 40% tax on other tax obligations for each financial transaction that organizations and media receive from abroad.
Esteban Santos, analyst and expert in international law, comments that one of Bukele’s great contradictions is that while presenting this law he condemns what was done by Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua and does not recognize his elections. Ortega passed a similar law in the past that has prevented organizations from working in his country.
“It even goes to the extreme that it puts a rate of 40% for each transaction of the money that (the organizations) receive from abroad. Bukele says, typical populism, which is money that will go to roads, schools and not interference … He is the most tweeter president in the world. He already went on to say that it is the same as the United States has with the FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act), but it has nothing to do with that, because it omits the most important part: that in the United States this does not apply if the subnational organizations are American and if the control of that capital does not belong to foreign hands; and, likewise, newspapers and magazines are not subject to this law. So, it has nothing to do with one another, “says Santos, who concludes that he is nothing more than another dictator painted cool who wants to silence the press and opponents.
César Ricaurte, director of Fundamedios, adds that this type of laws that turn organizations into supposed agents of foreign governments, “traitors to the homeland”, are typical of dictatorships such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“The sole proposal by Bukele and his party to pass a law in these terms brings him closer to that line of dictatorial governments. It is extremely dangerous, condemnable from every perspective, and can only be explained by the deepening of the government’s authoritarian features, ”says Ricaurte, who adds that, unfortunately, Central America, and in particular the so-called“ northern triangle ”(Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras), is having severe problems of democratic institutions.
He also comments that the assumption that foreign aid that reaches organizations threatens the self-determination and sovereignty of a country, is an empty speech of authoritarian governments that are drifting towards dictatorships, which try to justify the repression against opponents.
“International cooperation is a legitimate mechanism that States have to collaborate with each other and with civil society … That defends human rights, freedom of expression, focused on issues of democratic governance … These are values that the entire community should share. international, and any effort to strengthen this civic society is absolutely legitimate and is indicated by various international instruments and treaties, ”says Ricaurte.
The great popularity that Bukele enjoys makes his actions easier, since they have already allowed him to have a majority in parliament, and the danger is that the civic space is closed, that is, the action of civil society, journalism and the media independent communication partners, it’s real. (I)
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