At 44 years old, the self-styled world’s “coolest dictator” has been in power for six years, and has just scrapped constitutional term limits, raising the prospect he could rule for many more.
For good measure, he and his allies also passed a “foreign agents” law, similar to those used to crush dissent in Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Against this backdrop, about 80 human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and environmentalists have left El Salvador in the last four months, according to an AFP tally, fleeing what they call “escalating repression” and the risk of imprisonment.
AFP spoke to several of those in exile. Here are the stories of four.
Bukele’s government did not respond to requests for comment. But the president — popular with Salvadorans for his “war” on gangs that once ravaged the country — accuses his critics of “distorting” and “manipulating” the truth.
The human rights activist
Ingrid Escobar’s left arm is bandaged. Shortly after fleeing her homeland with her nine- and 11-year-old children, she underwent surgery for a tumor, leaving a wound that has yet to heal.
“I prioritized my health, my freedom, and my children,” says the director of Socorro Juridico (Legal Aid), which assists prisoners’ families.
Now in Mexico, the 43-year-old recalls how police patrolled near her home “twice a week.”
She lived in that shadow until a friend from the prosecutor’s office warned her that she was on a list of 11 people about to be arrested.
“I had no choice” but to leave she said. “Because of the intimidation and fear of dying in prison without medical treatment.”
“I grabbed some clothes and left when I could,” she said.
The prospect of being jailed in El Salvador is not far-fetched.
Escobar has been a staunch critic of Bukele’s state of emergency, which was imposed in 2022 and has led to about 88,000 people being detained.
The government accuses them all of being gang members. But with scant evidence or due process, no one knows for sure.
Escobar insists that among the prisoners are “thousands of innocents.”
An estimated 433 have died in prison, although the true figure may never be known.
Her organization continues to operate in El Salvador, but they are at “high risk,” Escobar laments.
“Consolidating the dictatorship involves imprisoning human rights defenders to silence them,” she claimed.
“There is no such thing as a ‘cool dictatorship.'”
The Lawyer
Ruth Lopez was already in pyjamas when police arrived to arrest her on the night of May 18.
The lawyer, who led the anti-corruption unit of the humanitarian NGO Cristosal, was herself was accused of illicit enrichment by a Bukele-aligned prosecutor.
Her high-profile arrest marked a turning point.
A month later, her colleague Rene Valiente, head of investigations, went into exile along with 20 other Cristosal activists.
“There were attacks on social networks, stigmatization of our work, surveillance by security forces,” recounts the 39-year-old lawyer from Cristosal’s office in Guatemala.
A constitutional lawyer and an environmental lawyer were also arrested in May and June, and the “foreign agents law” stipulated strict new laws for NGOs, including a 30 percent tax on their income.
Amid all this, the US administration of President Donald Trump has been notably muted in its condemnation.
Valiente and Lopez continue to advise the families of the 252 Venezuelans deported from the United States and who spent four months in the mega-prison Bukele built for gang members.
“He exercises repression because he has the validation of the United States and has undermined democratic checks and balances” said Valiente.
“We will continue working from here for a country that doesn’t have to choose between security, or rights,” he said.
The Environmentalist
When the Bukele-controlled Congress lifted the ban on metal mining last December, many Salvadorans took to the streets to protest.
An environmental leader with a decade’s standing, Amalia Lopez could not be absent.
But after helping file a legal challenge against the new rules the 45-year-old was forced to retreat from the fight and leave her country in April.
“I felt watched. I thought about protecting myself, letting the pressure subside, and returning, but I am no longer safe there,” she told AFP from Costa Rica.
In May, an environmental defender and a community leader protesting with farmers near Bukele’s residence were detained.
“With such overwhelming military and political power, we can’t do much,” said Lopez, who also defends communities’ rights to water and land threatened by “powerful economic groups.”
All her work and affections “were left there” she said.
“With indefinite re-election, an early return is impossible. Now it’s an increasingly distant reality.”
The Journalist
Jorge Beltran still has his suitcases packed because he’s seeking asylum in another country.
The 55-year-old left El Salvador for Guatemala on June 14 “totally devastated,” without his wife and children.
“I am emotionally unwell. But in El Salvador, practicing free and critical journalism is no longer safe,” he said from his small rented room.
A journalist for 23 years, Beltran is one of 47 reporters who have gone into exile in recent months, according to the professional association APES.
Working for El Diario de Hoy, he denounced what he called “corrupt Bukele officials and human rights violations.”
It was no easy task, Beltran said, as the government “closed access to public documents.”
He decided to leave when people close to power warned him he was being targeted by the police.
“It’s a very bitter pill,” he said. Now the prospect of Bukele’s indefinite re-election “erases the hope of returning in just a few years.”
Although he is currently unemployed, Beltran plans to create a website to report from abroad on what is happening in El Salvador.
“I will be far away, but I will not be silent,” he insisted.
Los exiliados de Bukele ante un retorno cada vez más lejano
Cuatro de ellos hablan a la AFP de lo que llaman una “escalada represiva” del presidente Nayib Bukele contra críticos de su gobierno, a quienes acusa de “tergiversar” y “manipular” desde la izquierda.
Unos 80 se exiliaron en los últimos cuatro meses, según activistas y defensores de los derechos humanos. La AFP consultó al gobierno sin obtener respuesta hasta ahora.
Popular por su “guerra” contra las pandillas, Bukele, presidente desde 2019, controla todos los poderes estatales y se autoproclama “dictador cool”.
La defensora de DDHH
Lleva su brazo izquierdo vendado. Poco después de salir con sus niños de 9 y 11 años por la frontera con Guatemala, fue operada de un tumor en México, donde están refugiados.
“Puse primero mi salud, mi libertad y mis hijos”, dice Ingrid Escobar, directora de la oenegé Socorro Jurídico, que asiste a familiares de presos en El Salvador.
La policía rondaba su casa “dos veces por semana”, relata. Aguantó hasta que un amigo de la fiscalía le avisó que estaba en una lista de 11 personas a ser detenidas.
“No tuve opción… por el amedrentamiento y el temor a morir presa sin tratamiento médico. Tomé algo de ropa y salí como pude”, dice esta mujer de 43 años que ha dedicado su vida al activismo humanitario.
Férrea crítica del régimen de excepción impuesto por Bukele en 2022 como parte de su “guerra” antipandillas, denuncia que entre las 88.000 personas detenidas hay “miles de inocentes” y 433 han muerto en prisión.
Socorro Jurídico aún trabaja en El Salvador pero el equipo está en “alto riesgo”, lamenta.
“Consolidar la dictadura pasa por meter presos a defensores de derechos humanos para callarlos”, afirma Escobar. “No existe tal dictadura cool”.
El abogado
Ruth López ya estaba en pijamas cuando llegó a detenerla la policía la noche del 18 de mayo. La abogada, que dirigía la unidad anticorrupción de la oenegé humanitaria Cristosal e investigaba casos a nivel gubernamental, fue acusada de enriquecimiento ilícito por la fiscalía afín a Bukele.
Su arresto fue un parteaguas. Un mes después, su colega René Valiente, jefe de investigaciones, se exilió con otros 20 activistas de Cristosal.
“Había ataques en redes sociales, estigmatización de nuestra labor, seguimiento de los cuerpos de seguridad”, enumera el abogado de 39 años en la oficina de Cristosal en Guatemala.
Un abogado constitucionalista y otro ambientalista también fueron detenidos en mayo y junio, y entró en vigor una “ley de agentes extranjeros” como las de Nicaragua, Venezuela y Rusia para controlar a las oenegés y cobrarles impuestos equivalentes al 30% de sus fondos.
Junto a López, Valiente asesoraba a distancia a familias de los 252 venezolanos deportados por Washington que estuvieron cuatro meses en la megacárcel que construyó Bukele para pandilleros.
“Ejerce represión porque tiene la validación de Estados Unidos y minó controles y contrapesos democráticos. Trabajaremos desde aquí por un país que no tenga que decidir entre seguridad o derechos”, dice Valiente.
El periodista
Aún tiene sus maletas hechas porque desde Guatemala busca asilo en otro país. Jorge Beltrán, de 55 años, salió de El Salvador el 14 junio “totalmente destruido”, sin su esposa e hijos.
“Estoy emocionalmente mal. Pero en El Salvador ya no es seguro ejercer un periodismo libre y crítico”, dice en la pequeña habitación que renta.
Periodista desde hace 23 años, Beltrán es uno de los 47 comunicadores que se exiliaron en los últimos meses, según la asociación gremial APES.
Desde El Diario de Hoy, relata, denunciaba a “funcionarios de Bukele corruptos y violaciones a derechos humanos”.
Una labor nada fácil, agrega, porque el gobierno “cerró el acceso a documentos públicos”.
Decidió salir cuando personas cercanas al poder le advirtieron que estaba en la mira de la policía.
“Es un trago muy amargo”, asegura. Y la reelección indefinida “borra la esperanza de regresar en pocos años”.
Aunque ahora no tiene trabajo, piensa crear un sitio digital para informar desde afuera lo que pasa en El Salvador: “Voy a estar alejado, pero no callado”.
La ambientalista
Cuando el Congreso controlado por Bukele levantó la prohibición de la minería metálica en diciembre, muchos salvadoreños salieron a protestar. Amalia López no podía faltar.
Líder ambientalista desde hace una década, López, de 45 años, abandonó su país en abril tras ayudar a presentar una demanda de inconstitucionalidad contra la minería.
“Me sentía vigilada. Pensaba resguardarme, que bajara la presión y regresar, pero ya no estoy segura allá”, comenta a la AFP en Costa Rica.
En mayo fue detenido un defensor ambientalista y un líder comunitario que protestaban con campesinos cerca de la residencia de Bukele.
Todo ese trabajo y sus afectos “quedaron allá”. “Con la reelección, un regreso pronto es imposible. Ahora es un realidad cada vez más lejana”, se resigna.